Resto

I was thrilled when my friend Jen suggested a big group dinner out this past Friday night.

This last week was my last one at Harper (no more freelancing), Jen has had some issues at work, and the Soul Twin was starting the healing process after a family tragedy: we were a rag-tag group, for sure.  Put in charge of getting a reservation, Resto seemed the perfect place to eat.  Gorgeous quality, heavy on soul-soothing food, and a casual atmosphere was exactly what we needed (check out the dinner menu - you'll see below that they even offer large format meals with "nose to tail" options).

Friday night was a beautiful autumn evening, crystal-clear with temps in the 60s.  Perfect.  Our group of 7 scored the only table out on the sidewalk so we were able to escape the noise inside; it felt like our very own private space in the middle of a city sidewalk.

One of my favorite things at Resto is the deviled eggs.  They're served on "pork toast": a pig's head is boiled down until it's fatty and melty and then it's smoothed flat in a sheet pan and frozen.  Once solid, it's cut up, breaded, and fried.  Crispy on the outside, melty fattiness on the inside, it's nothing short of pork heaven.  A slightly spicy deviled egg is served on top.

It's insanely rich - four of us shared this and we were more than satiated.

Andrea and Brian shared the moules et frites with Dijon mustard, house-made bacon, Parmesan, onion confit, and tarragon.  Tina and Jen shared the moules et frites with green curry, lemongrass, coconut milk, and kaffir lime.

Adam and Phil both had the burger.

I ordered the skirt steak with wax beans, fine herbs, pistachios, walnuts, pine nuts, and honey.

We also ordered every one of the dipping sauces for the frites: lime pickle; mayo and onion; sweet chili; Old Bay; mayo; Cajun remoulade; Sriracha; lemon and smoked paprika (my favorite!); yogurt, cumin, and roasted garlic; gribiche.

Resto is also one of the rare places that has an outstanding wine AND beer list - it seems that most places only have one or the other. This list isn't the whole book you see below but it's damn close.  The best thing is that I've never had a server at Resto who didn't know their beers and wines from top to bottom - they can find the perfect pairing to anything, I'm sure of it.

An amazing night of good food, good wine, and good friends.

Eat, drink, and share a communal meal to cure what ails you.

Austrian Riesling

I was embarrassingly late to my wine-tasting date with Jenn this past week. I had never done a wine-tasting where you make a reservation, pay $25...and the wine geek in charge ("Chairman Paul") gives a lecture. So I walked in to a quiet room with all eyes turned to the lecturer...and then all turned to me. Crap.

But bad start aside, Terroir Wine Bar in the East Village (follow them on Twitter: @terroirny) gives an amazing wine-tasting. We started by talking about the important wine-making regions in Austria, which are in the easternmost part of the country. In particular, there's a trifecta of the best of the best regions: Kremstal, Kamptal, and Wachau. Wachau is arguably the bestest of the best. We even had a map of Austria to help us identify all these regions (along with a "Hello, My Name is Summer Of Riesling" sticker and a tattoo). Check out the packet we received:

We tasted 7 Austrian Rieslings - the first two were from the Traisental and Wien regions while the last five were from the trifecta. Here are a few snippets of information I learned (among many):

• Rieslings (or any wine, really) won't smell sweet - that's a taste.
• Sweet wines need acidity for balance - you want some tartness to counteract the sweet.
• A petrol nose is characteristic of Riesling but not always present. Likewise, Rieslings characteristically smell and taste of slate, granite, etc. That's speaks to terroir.
• "The best thing about tasting Riesling is that we don't have to talk about oak!" (This was related to our discussion that some of these wines had Chardonnay-esque qualities: butter, warmth, peach...but no wood! Rieslings are much cleaner and crisper.)

Check out all the notes I took (and there's more on the backside):

I won't get into the details and notes about each wine, but Jenn and I agreed that #4 was our favorite: Riesling Pfaffenberg Rainer Wess 2006 (from the Kremstal region). It was incredibly unusual - our instructor rightly told us that you don't taste the peach fruit, you taste the pit. It was very earthy and metallic (in a good way). One of the reasons we loved it was because it was a rather odd, disconcerting wine...which made you want to keep drinking it to figure it out. It intrigued me more than the others.

Our least favorite? The first wine: Riesling Rothenbart Ludwig Neumayer 2007 (from the Traisental region). It was all Granny Smith tartness and no roundness of flavor to balance it. I could certainly see where it would pair well with sashimi but, for this tasting, I wasn't a fan.

Terroir has a three more wine-tastings left as part of their Summer of Riesling event: here's the schedule. It was $25 well-spent for this:

Word to the wise: you might want to eat a snack before the tasting. Drinking this much wine pre-dinner was a bit of a challenge for Jenn and me...but we held it together admirably. I also want to share that this is a great class for beginners (I'd classify myself as a beginner-intermediate wine taster). I can't say if it's too "easy" for the advanced connoisseur, but I do know there was some schmuck there who kept talking over our instructor, loudly blabbing about his "wine tutor". Wine snobs like that guy are what give people who love wine a bad name. Luckily, I easily ignored him.

Lastly, I leave you with this quote from Chairman Paul:

"There is no conversation about how these wines are made. They're made in the vineyard [...] Wines are made in the vineyard, NOT in a winery. That's terroir."

Eat, drink, and cheers to that!

The Day Pinot Was Replaced by Porter

As most of you know, Adam is a beer guy. And he's getting more and more obsessed every day to the point where I'm certain he's going to start homebrewing in our bathtub, thanks to Sam Calagione (the head of all things Dogfish Head) putting ideas into his head. Or he's going to leave me for Sam.*

Adam is also notoriously difficult to shop for and, as such, our families have bombarded him with beer and its various accoutrements for birthdays and holidays. This includes magazine subscriptions. So Adam is reading the latest Beer Traveler and there's a list of the 150 perfect places to drink a beer. One of them is Henry's 12th Street Tavern in Portland (it's #25). So we go there for lunch a couple days ago.


The beer list was insane. Here's a glimpse:


Even I found lots that I wanted to try. Like this Laurelwood Organic Tree Hugger Porter (Portland, OR):


I also tried a sample of the Oakshire Amber (Eugene, OR), which I loved - it was unique and complex in its flavor.

But the STAR of the whole experience? The gorgonzola fries:


I could use all kinds of flowery language and purple prose to describe them but I just can't. Crispness: perfect. Seasoning: perfect. Amount of gorgonzola: perfect. We had one plate of these among five of us, but we could just had two plates and called that our lunch. Next time, no doubt.

The dessert wasn't half-bad either:


That's the creme "brewlee" sampler. They use Widmer Hefeweizen to make the one so there's lots of clove and ginger and spice in it. The chocolate one uses Black Bear XX chocolate stout (of course) and it's so rich that one bite will suffice. Shortbread finishes it out.

Our hope is that Henry's is going to become a tradition - it was fantastic.

Eat, drink, and be open-minded about beer.

Note: The server told us that the waffle fries used in the gorgonzola fries are not housemade but that the fries that came with the burger were. The waffle fries were better by leaps and bounds. The house fries were lukewarm and rather soggy. Stick with the gorgonzola appetizer.

*While visiting the Dogfish Head Brewpub recently, Adam actually met Sam Calagione's son who isn't much older than our Bug. Adam is thinking of arranging their marriage...

IRA 2010 recap

As mentioned earlier, IRA was my second conference in April. TLA for a week...home for a week...then Chicago for a week. I know, it's a hard job but someone has to do it.

Chicago tortured me...as I shared here. I can't wait to go back.

And that was just the beginning. Here are the highlights:

• For heaven's sake, Seymour Simon and his wife, Liz. They will be the highlight at any event I attend where they are present so get used to hearing their names. I'm going to cap myself here because I could write my entire post about how much I adore them. But Seymour was on Facebook saying that they wanted to adopt me and Liz and I shared garlic and truffle infused ice cream at Bistro 110 together...I mean, helloooo. Enough said, right? By the way, the ice cream was sick. As in, good. But Seymour would have told you that. Because he's way more tech-savvy and hip than I'll ever be.
• Seeing Monica again. I'd think she was stalking me, except that she's so sweet and so wonderful and I love seeing her. Again, I never think you guys are actually going to say "hi" when we're in the booth together, but that is two conferences that I've seen Monica and her presence has become totally grounding. Thanks for stopping by!
• Going to Publican. Guys, it's RIDONKULOUSLY loud in that place. And the chairs are hideous. And to be quite frank, I wouldn't host a publisher-type dinner there again. But somehow it came together this instance, sort of. Henry Cole and our assistant got into an in-depth discussion of all things Marilyn Monroe. Which got us - Henry, Stephanie, Neal Shusterman, and me - into the Hepburns...and Cary Grant...and All About Eve. And all these people just got how much I love these classics. I was in heaven. The location wasn't ideal for a dinner with 10 people...and yet...it came together and I still soaked in the fabulous conversations.
• Getting On Meadowview Street signed by Henry Cole. I've been a fan of Henry's for years...in my previous life as a librarian. I sat across from him at dinner and apologized before reciting Why Do Kittens Purr? to him. I know the whole damn book by heart. And the illustrations? Swoooon. And here is a little known secret: in my new job, I rarely remember to have an author and/or illustrator sign a book for me. I'm usually too busy with Post-its, line management, etc. to remember my own geeked up fandom (i.e. Ryan Smithson at TLA - I can't believe I didn't have him sign a book for me!). But I remembered with Henry and I'm entirely grateful to him.
• Frontera Grill. Okay, so here's a disclaimer: we did Frontera Grill the last night of the conference so...to say that we were tired was an understatement. And yet...and yet...Dina (my predecessor) says to me in a hushed whisper, "Laura! Laura! Is that Rick Bayless?!?!" Yes, everyone. I'm here to confirm that it was. And I lost my cool. All my professionalism. Rick-friggin-Bayless!!!!! And, ladies, he looked gooood. That was enough for me. Especially seeing as he had a man near him who was warding off the fan boys and girls...like me. Sure, I could have used my feminine wiles to get close but, seeing as he was already dining with a beautiful silver-haired older woman, I had no chance. I mean, it was the last day of the conference! I was not at my best, looks-wise...

April kicked my arse...but DAMN I had a good time. So a huge thank you to Chicago and San Antonio...and PLEASE keep stopping by the booth to say hi - I love chatting with all of you and I hope you're not alarmed by the hugs and happy dances!

Eat, drink, and look forward to ALA...

Texas Library Association conference recap

As mentioned before, April was a bit...um...hectic. Two conferences in three weeks? Awesome*.

The first conference was Texas Library Association in San Antonio. Having never been to San Antonio - nay, never having been anywhere in Texas - I didn't know what to expect. But Texas delivers, man. The people were super nice, the cabbies were uber-chatty (in a good way), and the conference organizers are some of the best I've encountered so far.

I have a ridiculous amount of highlights to share with you so stay with me, folks:

• Hanging out with my fabulous publishing friends at Liberty Bar. It's hard to describe but it's this bizarre building, almost an Old West homage to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was introduced to Shiner Bock, which all my Texan friends told me I had to have, and it was every bit as awesome and refreshing as I had heard. But the stand-out was the venison burger - holy crap, it was out-of-this world.
  
  
• Meeting the ladies of Oops...Wrong Cookie. I've been a fan for awhile and it was fantastic to meet them in person. When I say to all of you, "Hey, stop by and say hi to me in booth #2222", I have to confess that I never believe anyone will. Shows me that I need to stop underestimating bloggers! This was a huge highlight for me, as evidenced by the happy-dance I did when Patti introduced herself!
  
  
• Meeting Ryan Smithson, author of Ghosts of War, who signed in our booth and spent quite a bit of time with us during the week. I've met people that served in Iraq before but, for some reason, meeting Ryan was just incredibly poignant for me. He's incredibly smart and bright and has so much to say and so much to add to the conversation (the conversation, of course, being teens serving in the military). It was an honor for me, truly, to spend time with him.
  
  
• Dinner out on Thursday night. A couple of us took out Sophie Jordan for dinner ( What, you haven't read Firelight yet?! The directions are easy: get yourself to a bookstore come September and buy a copy. You won't regret it. Or if you've read an ARC already, let me know what you think). But our reservation was canceled because we were too late. So, long story short, they were ridonkulously accomodating and set us up in their "sister" restaurant, Zinc. And we had our own little table in this little alcove on the patio while the rain fell five feet away - it was private and fun and intimate. In short, everything you want an author dinner to be. It's a HIDEOUS picture but feast your eyes on the truffled Parmesan fries:
  
  
  
  Need I point out that this photo does NOT do them justice?
  
  
• This is a walking town. Seriously, you could walk everywhere, which was just heavenly. I can't say the same for my next conference recap...
  
  
• Lastly, the Watermark Hotel. I can't recommend it enough. Remember the line in Ferris Bueller's Day Off? "I love driving it - it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." He could have been talking about the Watermark. Is there a better place to stay on the Riverwalk? I doubt it**.

San Antonio, I love you...just as others who have come before me have declared. I will gladly return...in 2013! Can't wait!

Eat, drink, and look forward to your next Shiner Bock.

* When will someone finally perfect the sarcasm font?!

** Keep in mind that it's the only hotel I've ever stayed at anywhere in Texas. So no disrespect to other San Antonio hotels.

ALA Midwinter highlights

It can be officially declared that I don't think I'll ever have time to blog at a conference, and I probably won't have time to tweet either. It's just too crazy. So I hope to make this a feature instead: highlights from the conference. I won't cover everything that happened, of course, but I'll share with you the best bits for me. As a reminder, I did this for NCTE as well.

So here are the particularly special things that happened at Midwinter:

• Meeting so many special authors. Linda Urban wandered into our booth and, being a huge fan of Crooked Kind of Perfect, I was able to gush and slobber all over her. I'm sure it wasn't as good for her as it was for me, but I loved seeing her. Loree Griffin Burns, author of Tracking Trash, was with Linda and they were both incredibly sweet and gracious, given that they were dealing with a crazy fangirl. I also met Stuart Murphy rather spontaneously and, as a librarian, I always found his books invaluable because they filled such a particular niche. Holly Cupala also stopped by the booth, as Harper is publishing her upcoming book Tell Me a Secret. She is a sweetheart with a smile that'll stop traffic (who also turned me on to Sock Dreams).
• Eating at Hamersley's Bistro. They had a crispy duck confit that stopped me dead. Perfect in every way. Kayleigh had the roast chicken and believe me when I assure you that it was in no way ordinary or plain. In fact, I never knew chicken could melt in your mouth. And I mean that in the best way possible.
• Eating (always food, right?) at Taberna de Haro. The food was pretty good, but the dessert...well, I had an intimate experience with the dessert. The server put the plate on the table with three small truffles and some small pieces of grilled bread. He sprinkled a generous amount of sea salt on the truffles, followed by a good shake of cocoa powder, and then poured olive oil over all of it. The olive oil and chocolate became this decadently goopy syrup and we used the bread to mop it up. The truffles were super dark and, combined with the salt, were small pieces of ecstasy. It was a once-in-a-lifetime dessert.
• The ALA Youth Media Awards. Even though it's a bit different now that I'm working for a publisher (I have a team to root for now!), I still experienced the same thrill and excitement as before. And I loved the Printz announcement - the room was in an uproar as there was one surprise after another. They shook it up big time, and thank goodness for that. It was a hoot.
• The ALA Tweet-Up. It was insane, just insane, but it was also a great chance for me to hook up with old friends (Liz, Heather, and Jen) and meet some new ones (Laura and Melissa Rabey).
• The Seaport Hotel. Need a place to stay in Boston that, frankly, is not terribly near convenient stuff? Stay here. The decor in the room wasn't anything spectacular, but the staff was super nice and there were all kinds of cute amenities: terrycloth robes, a "pillow library", an umbrella in the closet, and a black washcloth labeled "makeup" on the toiletries shelf. And the quality of the room service food was very good. And the "tip is already included" policy was awfully nice as well.
• I got a kick out of this: Saturday's top tweets as chosen by Library Journal. And here are Sunday's as well.

I have no complaints about this conference at all, though I do have to ask what the heck is up with Bostonian cabbies - they're infinitely more shady than the NYC variety. Wow.

Eat, drink, and finally get some sleep.

NCTE Highlights

So two weeks ago was the NCTE conference, followed by the ALAN workshop. As I mentioned here, it was my first conference in my new job so I was nervous and excited and nauseous building up to the big event (come to think of it, I felt that way during the event too).

I'm happy to report that the conference was a fantastic experience, and I had little reason to worry; some hiccups aside, everything went fairly smooth, I think. Here were some highlights:

• Someone stopped by our booth and mentioned that Donna Jo Napoli was signing at Penguin's booth, which I could see from our HarperCollins spot. So I was able to hop away and have her sign a copy of The Smile for me. I'm such a huge fan of hers and she graciously allowed me to slobber all over her, going on and on about how Prince of the Pond was one of the first books I read as a children's librarian...blah, blah, blah. She was just brilliant.


• Do you remember how I mentioned in my earlier post that, if you were attending NCTE, you should stop by the booth and say hi? Well, someone did! I was so flattered and so happy and so relieved (cue Sally Field's Oscar speech). However, in all the hoopla and all the following days, I have forgotten my new friend's name. Monica? I think? Reintroduce yourself to me cyberly!


• I mentioned to a publishing cohort from another house that we HC gals were going to try to get better about taking breaks from the booth. Her response? "Oh, yeah, no breaks. You also forget to eat and to go to the bathroom. It's like your body shuts down when you're in booth!" Word up. Seriously, give your friends in publishing a hug next time you see them in a booth...or better yet, bring them food or drink. Chances are they have satisfied no basic bodily functions in hours.


• Lee Bennett Hopkins accepted the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry during the conference and ended his speech by reading Langston Hughes' "Dreams." It was beautiful.


• Jarrett Krosoczka. Yes, just that name. I saw him across the aisle, signing at Random House's booth and wanted to get over there to tell him what a HUGE fan I am of Lunch Lady and Punk Farm...but it was just too crazy. I saw him no less than ten more times during the course of the conference but, for a multitude of reasons, he remained elusive to me. I never got the chance to go all fangirl on him. So, Jarrett, I am publicly declaring that I'm a fan (I can actually spell your name from memory - how many people can do that?!) and it was a thrill just to see you from afar (over and over again) at NCTE.


• Speaking of fangirldom, I also got to talk in-depth with Matt Phelan and that was a pinnacle, truly. Eileen Spinelli signed in our booth and - would you believe it? - I never even got a chance to introduce myself, much less gush about how much I adore Where I Live. So imagine my surprise when I spontaneously met Matt in the lobby of our hotel! So I was able to ramble on and on to him about that book...and to find out that Matt is particularly fond of Where I Live as well. Chatting with Matt was a highlight of the conference for me. (Fun story: Matt and I talked at length about David Small's work, and Matt said he was lucky enough to win some original art by David Small during a silent auction at BEA. Apparently Matt hovered next to the sheet, determined to outbid anyone who dared sign their name to paper. And he was rewarded for his vigilance! I thought it would be too fangirl of me to point out to Matt that plenty of people feel the same way about his artwork!)


• A simple pleasure: watching the sunrise over the river from the 28th floor of my hotel, sipping green tea. When you're on a 5-day-long adrenaline rush, it's quiet moments like this that you treasure.


• Laurie Halse Anderson's keynote speech at the ALAN breakfast was inspiring and uplifting and funny and beautiful (she blogs a bit about it here). I've never had the pleasure of hearing her speak before and she had the whole room riveted. Likewise, Naomi Shihab Nye's speech at that same breakfast made me laugh and cry at the same time. Both of them made me want to be a better person and made me believe that positive change is possible and that there is good to be found in everyone. Seriously, no irony, no snark.

Lastly, the biggest highlight of the conference for me was our HarperCollins "family dinner" at Osteria. We had it at the "chef's table"...which, seriously, is a huge square butcher block table in a private room off the kitchen. You walk through the prep station to get to it. Around the table are sorbet machines, pastry blenders...the server said the table is actually where they make their pasta every day. The staff had lit candles all around and were playing "Italian pop music." And the food? Oooooh, the food. Superb in every way. Not only was this a highlight for the conference and my job thus far...it was a culinary highlight of my life, truly. An added bonus? Morimoto (!) actually poked his head in briefly to check out the space and we later saw him eating in the main dining room! Apparently he and the owners of Osteria are friends. And here are two subpar photos I took with my phone:

And did I take a moment during the dinner to reflect, like I said I would? Yes, I did. There was a minute or two when I was out of the conversations going on around me. I looked around at the table, watching everyone engaged in conversation, eating and drinking, everything aglow in candlelight. I loved that I had a part in making it happen, and I loved that food and drink allowed us all to slow down and enjoy each other. It would not be exaggerating to say that it was one of the best moments of my adult life, as it was professionally, creatively, and emotionally satisfying.

Eat, drink, and cheers to all of you - for sitting at my table (the blog, of course), for stopping by the booth to see me, and for taking this journey with me. You are so appreciated!

"Listen All You New Yorkers": Part II

Pret a Manger? Au Bon Pain? Certé? Any of you frequent these places when you're stuck in Midtown Manhattan and need lunch? Well, now on Monday, you have an out-of-this-world alternative: Schnitzel & Things.

This food truck has gotten a lot of hype: here, here, here, and here. Then last week came the spot on Good Day NY. Previously their location was announced the dayof each appearance via Twitter, and then they'd pull up anywhere from the Upper West Side all the way down to Brooklyn. No more. They have a page announcing the week's schedule and, even better, a permanent Monday location at 52nd St. between 6th and 7th Ave. Conveniently located super close to my work!

It was because of this that I was able to eat there for the first time today and, honestly, the food is worth every ounce of hype. I ordered the chicken schnitzel platter which comes with two sides at the bargain price of $9. I chose the mesclun salad and the sauerkraut...which was odd because I have never tried sauerkraut in my life. But I figured it was going to be good from them and not the lumpy, stringy mess I'm used to seeing elsewhere. Here's what I got:

The chicken was hot, super fresh, and moist - I don't know if I've ever had anything fried that was so light. The salad was serviceable - it's hard to mess up a mesclun salad with a vinaigrette. The sauerkraut? I'm so glad that I lost my sauerkraut virginity with Schnitzel & Things! There was still some bite to the cabbage - it was al dente, if you will. There was a vinegary bite to it, in addition to caraway seeds sprinkled throughout. Add the sauerkraut to a bite of chicken schnitz? Shazam.

You also get your choice of a condiment, and I chose the pesto mayo. That was my one misstep. It's not that it was bad but, when compared with the 'kraut, the mayo paled in comparison. I think next time I'll try the garlic, scallion, and ginger relish. They also have a spicy sriracha sauce I want to order...but first I have to learn how to pronounce the damn word. They also have potato salad as a side, which I never order usually because so many places crap it up with gobs of mayo, but I'm going to give theirs a shot. I have high hopes.

I have only had schnitzel one other place in NYC - Café Steinhof - and it has to be said: Schnitzel & Things KILLS Steinhof. And that's hard for me to say because I have felt particularly loyal to Café Steinhof. Try Schnitzel & Things, you Brooklynites, and let me know if you agree.

This is officially part of my Monday routine, visiting the truck. What a fantastic way to start the week.

Eat, drink, and "get your schnitz on"!

NOTE: And I can't resist noting that the guys who run the truck? They're adorable so you can also have a friendly side of flirtation with your lunch.

Homeward Bound

Recently we went on our annual summer vacation where we spend a few days in California and a few days in Oregon. My family lives in a tiny little town called Rescue, which is situated in the larger El Dorado County, which is about 45 minutes east of downtown Sacramento. I always tell people that it was a great place to grow up because, as a kid and teenager, I could always get somewhere better: 2 hours to San Francisco, 2 hours to Napa, 2 hours to Lake Tahoe. As an adult, though, I've come to appreciate this area for what it is and we usually stay put when we visit.

I don't have photos, but here is the post I did last year about our trip (or the San Francisco portion of the trip). I may not have photos of this year's trip, but I do have lots of links. Check them out:

• My mom and my sister introduced me to Heyday Café, a haven of simple yet fabulous food. I had their Portobello "Philly" with Caramelized Onions, Bell Peppers, Provolone Cheese, and Smokey Aioli. It was one of the better sandwiches I've ever had, especially considering the café's careful attention to the bread: a ciabatta that was light, airy, and in perfect proportion to the amount of filling. I also had their roasted red pepper bisque with smoked Gouda. I do a roasted red pepper soup, but I have never considered putting cheese on it. The Gouda added a layer of richness and decadence and really made the bisque a meal unto itself. My mom's favorite dish is the Roasted Butternut Squash atop a Bed of Spinach Greens with Bacon Crumbles, Red Onions, Toasted Almonds, Goat Cheese, and a Brown Sugar Cider Vinaigrette. Every flavor was balanced and the ingredients were incredibly fresh. Our server, who I believe is one of the owners, told us it was his mom's recipe. Last but not least, they have a stellar wine list, including lots of El Dorado County wines (I drank the Boeger Barbera).
  
  
• Speaking of Boeger wines, my mom also took me to the Boeger Winery as my birthday present (July 19th) and had me pick out wines to ship home. I chose two bottles of their Merlot, which was surprisingly smooth - generally speaking, Merlot tends to have too much bite for my tastes. I also chose two bottles of their rosé, which lacked the tartness I usually shy away from, and I also chose two bottles of their port, which was uncharacteristically light for a port. Isn't it lovely that I'm going to get home to local California wines waiting for me?
  
  
• Also speaking of wine, my parents have some friends who have only three acres of grapes and they make what little they have into wine...and I love it. It really strikes you how doctored up and pretty-fied all those bigger vineyard wines are when you taste the simplicity and freshness of a tiny wine. Of course, they sell it as grapes...in liquid form in a bottle...so it's not entirely legal. They also get lots of help producing the wine from friends so their wine label has the name of their vineyard (which I'm obviously not sharing) and then, underneath it, "Hand Crafted Wine of Friends." Don't you love that? So my mom bought a case of their wines and she'll ship some of those bottles to me, telling the UPS store that she's shipping olive oil.
  
  
• We also had a great dining experience at Kobe Sushi, an unexpected gem of a restaurant in a small town (Cameron Park). Stay away from the rolls, in my opinion - they're drenched in sauce. That said, my family goes nuts for the rolls so to each their own. I can highly recommend the sashimi, though - the freshness rivals any of the sushi I've eaten in NYC so far. Lastly, the service is friendly and attentive. The prices are also incredibly reasonable.

Overall, a lovely trip to California and, as usual, I'm having a crisis of confidence about our move to New York. But that always fades once I return home and rediscover New York's distinct personality.

Eat, drink, and discover you can go home again.

With a Little Help from my Friends

Last night I went to dinner with my friend Heather Scott, library marketing goddess and NYC afficionado. At Heather's recommendation, we met at O'Neills, an Irish pub at 3rd Ave. and 46th St. I know, right? You wouldn't think much of the location. But the food is some of the best pub food I've had. I can't recommend the bangers and mash enough - the sausage was crispy (but not burned) on the outside and intensely flavorful and moist inside. A treat.

But here's what I'm really blogging:

Heather made me her chipotle brownies!

Sadly, I don't have the recipe. Quite frankly, I don't really want to know how they're made. Am I the only foodie that sometimes feels as if the beauty and spontaneity of food can be ruined by getting the recipe? Asking Heather for the recipe would have completely taken me out of the moment. So I am sorry to disappoint those of you wanting to immediately recreate this.

However, I can tell you that this is a family recipe of Heather's. Heather has tweaked it to include chipotle, vanilla sugar, and cinnamon. So I would imagine that you could take your favorite brownie recipe, such as Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies, and play around with the flavors to taste. I'm of the opinion that Heather got it just right: the chipotle and cinnamon don't give the brownies heat...they give them warmth. Kinda of like a great night out with a friend.

Eat, drink, and cultivate friendships.

Going to Denver anytime soon?

I've been meaning to do this since ALA Midwinter Conference but I just kept putting it off...

While I was in Denver in January for the conference, I found myself with some unexpected free time on Tuesday.  Most of my colleagues had started home by that point and all my meetings were finished.  So all you book people will know where I headed: Tattered Cover book store , of course!  It was every bit as lovely as I had expected - dark wood, lots of hushed intellectual conversation, nice people, plush seating.  After a couple of hours of perusal, I purchased a few books: Real Food Fast by Nigel Slater, Cooking from the Heart of Spain: Food of La Mancha by Janet Mendel, Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder, and Judy Moody Gets Famous by Megan McDonald.  I'm guessing you can tell which were for me and which were presents for Kiddo.

As I left the store and walked down Wynkoop Street, I saw this symbol on a sign with an arrow pointing down the alleyway: 

Wines off Wynkoop.

I thought to myself, "Why not?"  So I diverted myself down the alley and entered the wine store.  It had a similar feel to Tattered Cover: dark wood, cozy, bright.  I asked the friendly guy behind the counter about their local wine section: "What would you recommend in a red and a white?"  He recommended the Trail Ridge 2006 Gewurztraminer, explaining that he personally didn't go for Gewurztraminer, typically, but the Trail Ridge was milder and more food-friendly than other versions.  

Upon drinking it when I got home, I found his assessment to be spot-on.  It still had that typical crisp sweetness, but it wasn't cloying or over-the-top.  The Colorado version wasn't nearly as showy, which is a compliment.

The red he recommended was the Verso 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Again, like the Gewurztraminer, I felt like this was the wallflower version of a true Cabernet: it was jammy and dark, but not as much as you would expect from a typical Cab.  And this is again a compliment: in an age of so much in-your-faceness, I found this Cabernet's shyness refreshing.

And as if I wasn't already having a fantastic day, I finished that night eating dinner alone at Osteria Marco.  If you find yourself in downtown Denver this is the place to go.  I loved the way that you enter through a modern lobby but, once you take the stairs down, you enter this dark-wooded, cozy atmosphere.  The service was attentive without being hovering, and the food was outstanding.  I finally (!) was able to try burrata (which I had heard so much about from Art & Aioli): Osteria Marco makes their own in-house version, along with all their charcuterie, and it was delectable.  

Here is one thing that happens when you eat alone: you end up sitting in weird nooks and crannies of restaurants.  I should know: I love eating at a restaurant alone so this happens to me quite a bit.  In this case, I ended up sitting near the guy who makes the paninis so I was able to watch him man the presses.  And I learned a ton.  For one thing, he had the heat much lower than I have mine at home because those sandwiches were there for a long time.  He also pressed them down...and down some more...to make them super-thin.  I don't worry that much about mine - I usually throw some weight on top of them and then walk away.  I know now that I shouldn't be so flip about them in the future.  Well, the guy noticed I was watching him intently and I think he told the manager because he eventually came over and chatted it up with me.  I learned about the restaurant and that the manager was planning on opening his own restaurant someday.  And I also got a good laugh when I told the manager I was in Denver for the ALA conference and, showing no restraint, he exclaimed, "But you're under 40!  And thin!"  To be fair, he was apologetic for his outburst - I didn't take it personally - you have to be able to laugh at your profession, right?

Overall, it was such a beautiful, phenomenal day in Denver.  It's been difficult to look back at that time with fond memories, as it makes me miss Kate and Kathy so tremendously, but Denver really was one of my favorite conference experiences to date.  With a special thanks to Kate and Kathy (of course), Patricia, Brenda Bowen , Jenny, my friends at Random House, and Kathy Nuzum.  

Eat, drink, and look forward to the opportunity to visit Denver again.

Diner food is sometimes the best way to go

I've been longing to eat at The Loeb Boathouse ever since I moved to New York (thanks to When Harry Met Sally)...so we're going on two years now that I've dreamed but have not achieved.

Amateur Gourmet has made me seriously reconsider ever going there.  I'll stick to my Georgia Peach for brunch, thank you very much.

Eat, drink, and stay away from tourist destinations.

The One Where I Re-Create Fig and Olive's Fennel Dish

My soul twin/BFF/partner-in-crime came for a visit last weekend, and we had a proper night out on the town: a 3 ½ hour dinner at Fig and Olive, drinks at The Campbell Apartment, dancing down the street and curtsying to passers-by after one cocktail too many, the Chrysler building (or “the chandelier building”, as my BFF calls it) twinkling in the background. Completely fabulous.

At Fig and Olive, we had the Grilled Fennel with Lemon and Rosemary and I truly don’t know if I can find the words to express its wondrousness. The texture was perfection – cooked through but still resisted a bit when we bit into it. The flavors were complex – the anise, obviously, was predominant, as was the rosemary, but there was something else in there. What was that flavor? What is that? And the fennel was sliced super thin with that pale cream color. Where were the grill marks? It drove us to the brink, trying to figure out how it was done. We asked our adorable server, but he said, “Maybe the chef grilled it whole and peeled away the outer layers.” Hmm…perhaps. But then how did it get sliced so thin once it was cooked? Our server also told us there was “a touch” of grapefruit juice. Hmm…really? Intriguing… Analysis aside, there were gorgeous moments when my BFF and I would take a bite, close our eyes, and sit in orgasmic silence. Wow.

Naturally, I had to try to make it on my own. Last night, I made Nigella Lawson’s Potato and Mushroom Gratin. It was so simple and so delicious, especially since I was able to improv a bit with the ingredients I had on hand: I used red new potatoes instead of the “baking potatoes” Nigella calls for. I also couldn’t find any cremini mushrooms so I used baby portabellas instead. Now the dish was fine on its own, but it could be fabu with bacon. Or maybe even a blue cheese crumbled on top before serving. I dolloped some crème fraîche on it, and that was perfection.

So the fennel…well, I put the whole bulb in a baking dish, rubbed it with oil, salt, and pepper, and baked it at 425 for 40 minutes. I had to do it for only 40 minutes because that’s how much time I had left for the gratin. When the fennel came out, I peeled the outer layers away and did a pretty decent job of slicing it thinly. But it definitely was underdone. So I sauteed it in olive oil and lemon juice for about 20 minutes (while my gratin just sat in a 200° oven. Unfortunately, that still wasn’t enough time, and it was definitely too crunchy still. And I forgot the rosemary. So I’m chalking this up as a failure, even though I still enjoyed it and ate every bite. I consider it a failure because I didn’t have the outcome I was trying for. It’s back to the drawing board.

I just wish I was somebody in the food world, and I could go into the kitchen at Fig and Olive and find out how it’s done! Anyone know anyone who can get me in?

Another One Where I Talk About the NYT Dining Section

The NYT Dining section has been doing this sort of annoying thing lately (to me, anyway) where they’re reviewing the best restaurants in the country. Naturally, I find it annoying because it doesn’t interest me and everyone knows it’s all about me, right? Nevertheless, you should know about this so you can check it out, if you want. For now, though, onward…

The Letters section was actually pretty interesting. Last week there was an article on MSG that almost accused MSG-related migraine sufferers of imagining the whole thing. Of course, a couple of letters grumbled about that. And two letters were related to the octopus article – you know, the octopus recipe that I was dying to try. One person actually spent time in Mykonos so, of course, he had had the real thing off the boat, beaten against a rock, and grilled on an open fire. Well, dur! Of course that’s going to taste better than octopus prepared in my crappy NY kitchen! Then another letter was from a woman who had seen the gorgeous creatures while scuba diving in the Caymans and questioned whether octopus was worth eating when it was so beautiful...not to mention that, if you have to do that much to a thing to make it suitable for eating, isn’t that a sign that maybe we shouldn’t eat it? I don’t know, perhaps I have no conscious, or perhaps I’m too simple-minded, or perhaps I’m cavalier…but I just don’t really care. For the most part, I have had an immensely enjoyable experience every time I’ve had squid. And that’s enough for me. Environmentally, ethically irresponsible? Sure, I suppose you could argue that. But isn’t nearly everything we parasitic humans are doing these days environmentally irresponsible? Oh goodness, I am so digressing…

I’ve been trying for months to get a decent reservation time at Blue Hill to no avail. Apparently now, thanks to TableXchange, I can purchase one! They cost anywhere from $15 to $40, sort of like eBay without bidding. There’s another website, PrimeTime Tables where you pay a $500 annual membership fee (!) and even then you play $45 per reservation. This is irking the restaurateurs because now they’re getting more no-shows and, probably more importantly, they can’t manage the quality of people getting into their restaurant. Now anybody can get in! The most popular restaurants in the country are now open for the masses! Hell, it’s anarchy! I can see where the restaurateurs are coming from but, on the other hand, this is American enterprise and capitalism at work. It’s the nature of the beast. Now some restaurateurs are saying that, if they know a reservation was made by a TableXchange customer, they won’t honor it. I do find this whole issue interesting, but it’s also part of the reason why I prefer home cooking to going out. I want an experience. I don’t want this cutthroat, bragging rights, showing off, competitive part. Or if I do want to go out, I’d rather go to a mid-level restaurant where I can manage a decent reservation time if I call on a Tuesday or Wednesday beforehand: Fig and Olive, Home, Gaby (in the Sofitel Hotel and some of the best food I’ve had in NYC). That’s much more enjoyable and less pretentious to me. I loathe pretension.

I am going to go back to the whole restaurant thing, very briefly. The restaurant reviewed on the first page – Fearing’s in Dallas – has a dish that looks and sounds like a plate of heaven: Buffalo marinated in maple syrup and peppercorns. Not bad, eh? I’d pout that I have to go to Dallas to try it, but the Union Square greenmarket has a guy who sells really good buffalo. I might have to try to create my own recipe…

And that’s the news this week. Stay tuned for more next week!

EDIT: I have to rescind my comment that "I just really don't care." That's totally inaccurate, and I feel bad for saying it. The truth is that I care very much. However, there are a lot of battles to be fought out there in the search for sustainable, organic, and local food...and this is just one I don't feel like fighting. Certainly not enough to compel me to write the Times. Not to mention that I made such a fuss over this woman's letter...and I see they didn't even include it in the online version of that section. So this is all a moot point anyway...

The One Where I Restaurant-Review The Ginger Man

I’ve been spending loads of time lately at a pub called The Ginger Man. It started two years ago when a friend recommended it to me – they have a ridiculous variety of beers and it has that dark wood, cozy corner feel to it. I finally went there for the first time back in January, and we loved it. It was wicked crazy (the Giants were playing), but we still had a great time. We didn’t have any food – it was midnight – but we did love the cask beers and the general mood of the place.

Then my parents visited a couple weeks ago and we thought – hey! – let’s take them to The Ginger Man. Well, let me tell you, 2 pm on a Saturday is the perfect time to go there. We were able to sit on the leather couch by the big windows near the front of the pub and just relax. It was actually quiet! In addition to the beer (a Fraziskaner with lemon for me, thanks), we had their cheese plate which was surprisingly good: the cheese was good quality with an interesting variety, the bread was quality, and I liked the inclusion of walnuts. We also got their pretzels, which are awesome. They’re the big soft kind that you find from the street vendors, except these are exceptional quality: crunchy on the outside with the perfect portion of salt, fresh and soft on the inside. And they serve it with a sweet-spicy honey mustard dip that’ll clear your sinuses if you don’t practice restraint.

So that was two weeks ago. Then last weekend I took a girlfriend there around the same time on a Sunday: totally chill and relaxed, and I even curled my legs up under me on the couch like it was my own living room. I had their portabella sandwich, which was extremely dry and dull – I won’t order it again.

Then I went again last night. I’ve had such cozy, delightful times there, but I must have been fuzzy on nostalgia because I thought 6:00 on a Thursday night would be a good idea. I was meeting a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile and I had sweet visions of curling up on the couch again and catching up on all her news. Oh, dear readers, I could not have been more mistaken. The place was a zoo. A loud, noisy zoo where the animals are allowed to roam free. Of course, I’m kicking myself – I should have known better! A midtown bar after work right before the weekend?! Laura! You fool! Not to mention that I was the only one in the bar not wearing a black trenchcoat. The Ginger Man goes from jeans and sweaters and all things relaxed on weekend afternoons to corporate blandness on the weeknights. Ew.

So I get there at 5:30, intentionally early so that I could have a beer beforehand, chill out, read the NYT Dining section. No, instead, I had to sit in a dark corner where I couldn’t read. And then I realized that keeping my coveted table for the next 30 minutes was going to take a feat of superhuman strength. The claws came out. And then I felt the surest way to keep the server from asking me to give up my table would be to buy my way into keeping my seat. So I set up a tab and ended up drinking three beers! Three! Goodness. Luckily, my friend showed up and I was able to smile smugly at everyone: see, I told you I was meeting a friend. On a culinary note, I had the pretzel for an appetizer. And I had their field greens salad for dinner, which was rather good. The greens weren’t all wilty, and there were three generous rounds of goat cheese on top. The walnuts on the salad were also good, though the strawberry vinaigrette was a little too heavy on the vinegar side – my mouth felt all sore by the time I was finished. Luckily, my three Franziskaners helped numb me. The conversation, of course, was fantastic, even though it was semi-yelled. People were so tacky and hammered by the time we left – my friend got accosted by a young woman asking her about dating option traders – that we couldn’t help feeling that we escaped in the nick of time.

I can highly recommend The Ginger Man for phenomenal beers and decent pub food. Just go on overcast weekend afternoons when the zoo animals are locked up.

The Ginger Man
11 East 36th St. (between 5th and Madison)
NY, NY 10016

Libraries and Food: A Natural Relationship

So you don’t need me to tell you that ALA’s youth media awards came out yesterday. But just in case you didn’t know that, then here’s the link to it.

It was my first ALA Midwinter conference and it was just friggin awesome. I had some of the most interesting and entertaining conversations of my life, and I have come back to Queens invigorated and excited about being a librarian again – which is good because I was really in a place where I wasn’t so sure about working in a library anymore. Now I’m ready to kick some ass…in a good way, of course.

If anyone reading this is a librarian who has had their degree for less than 5 years OR is younger than 35, I highly encourage you to apply for the 2009 ALA Emerging Leaders program. It’s really a fantastic program that made me feel empowered and inspired. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me (via comments or email me personally). I definitely think Leslie Burger was on to something when she created this program – it’s a wonderful way to include up-and-coming librarians in the process and to elicit their ideas about the direction of ALA and the profession as a whole.

I even managed to fit in my love of all things food-related: Harcourt invited me to a dinner at Fork, a swoon-worthy restaurant on Market and 3^rd. Fantastic food. For an appetizer I had the flatbread with sautéed calamari, parmesan cheese, and white beans. A little on the dry side, but the calamari was really flavorful. For my entrée, I got the hangar steak with frites and it rocked. I asked for it rare and they actually gave it to me RARE! It’s an anomaly in the restaurant world – you folks who like your meat rare will know what I mean. For dessert, I had the dark chocolate mousse with cognac, which was very light and flavorful…but I don’t know if I made the right choice. Ellen Greene, Harcourt’s library marketing guru, ordered the ricotta cheesecake and I’ve never tasted anything like it in my life. I normally don’t go for cheesecake because it’s so dense but, lordy, that’s because I’ve never tried Fork’s cheesecake. Light as friggin air. Amazing. And of course, there was wine. See, I prove again how books, wine, and food are so completely interrelated. This whole meal – and Harcourt’s generosity in hosting it – will continue to be the major highlight of the conference for me.

But enough of that, let’s talk about the BOOKS! I still can’t believe it was just yesterday morning that I was sitting in that enormous ballroom, listening to the book award winners announced right before my eyes. As the Batchelder and Schneider Family awards were being announced, I felt all tingly and thrilled and excited. Then…as the moment of truth arrived…I felt all tense. Why? I realized that I was nervous because WHAT IF I HADN’T ORDERED THE RIGHT BOOKS ALL YEAR?! What if I had NONE of the major award winners in ANY of the libraries?!?!?! Luckily, though, I was golden. Granted, not every single library had a copy of every single book but at least we had some libraries holding all of some of the books. You know? Phew! I do have to say – and no description will truly capture it unless you were there – but listening to that enormous audible gasp when Hugo Cabret was announced was awesome, and the wild applause afterward was a thrill. And can I even tell you how pleased I am that Let It Shine got the CSK Award? Well-deserved. Overall, I’m enormously pleased with the award recipients, though there are a few question marks: Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County? Jabberwocky? Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian? And I sure was hoping that Jonathan Bean would get some well-deserved love but, alas, it wasn’t his year. Not to worry because I know his time is coming any year now.

All my gushing aside, it’s damn good to be home and make myself a home-cooked meal for the first time in five days. Even if it was as simple as a salad and a melty camembert grilled cheese sandwich. And pinot noir, of course.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Popover Cafe

Popover Cafe
551 Amsterdam Avenue
Corner of 86th Street
New York, New York 10024

So we went to the Popover Café because my dad had heard about it on the Food Network, and he suggested that we go there on his next visit. When I looked up the café, though, I was bummed to find out that it was located on the Upper West Side. And those of you familiar with the NYC area will know what a pain in the arse it is to get from Queens to the UWS. But no worries! It ends up that the café is really close to the Museum of Natural History, which we were already planning to visit, thus making it a perfect place to stop after a day of dinosaur bone viewing.

We stopped in on Labor Day around 1:30 p.m., and we had to wait for about 25 minutes. Which wasn’t bad. When our names were called, we were led through a complete labyrinth of chairs, tables, bodies, booths… It was crazy. But the windows are huge and the brick walls are painted white so it still had a very airy, open feel. My dad made some comments about the crowdedness – he tends to be claustrophobic – but he quickly became at home once we settled in. Because even with the place being so crowded, once you’re in your booth or at your table, this sort of warm, cozy feeling comes over you. It’s that kind of place.

It's super casual. We were all wearing shorts and jeans. The crowd ranged from beautiful people who had just clearly woke up, to families, to people dining alone and reading books. It ran the gamut. Because, again, it's a very neighborhood-oriented, comfortable space.

So the idea is that this place serves some sandwiches and desserts on popovers but, otherwise, it’s a normal café with the usual café fare, for the most part. You can get a basket of 3 popovers as an appetizer and it comes with some dee-lish strawberry butter. Unfortunately, it’s been three days since we went so I’m completely blanking on what my parents ate. But I had an omelette with cranberry, bacon, and cheddar. It was unusual and really wonderful. The eggs weren’t dry, and I loved the play of sweet and salty together. Adam had lemon pancakes with lemon syrup. Sound weird? I assure you, it was special. Again, the tart and sweet played together in a wonderful way that alternately left you feeling satisfied and refreshed. Even Isabell’s French toast rocked with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. For dessert, we had a popover stuffed with ice cream – it was okay, but I don’t know if I’d waste the calories next time. I also ordered Mexican hot chocolate, which came in a mug but should have been served in an espresso cup. It was rich and dark and thick. The best part, though? It had chili powder in it so it just warmed your body and made your throat burn just slightly – a very interesting and unique experience. You can also order the hot chocolate sans chili powder.

The service was good – water glasses stayed full and the meal came in a timely manner – and included a quirky story from our server about the origins of the number 13. Apparently, in non-Christian societies, it’s generally considered a lucky number. But Christianity, in its indoctrination process, decided to preach that it was unlucky. Of course, none of this is substantiated. It came from our server.

It wasn’t a cheap meal, but I also felt like we weren’t just paying for the meal. We were paying for cute ambiance on the UWS on a gorgeous holiday after visiting a museum. I gladly paid the bill and told my parents I loved showing them a good time in my city. I can strongly recommend the Popover Café to others. And for those of you not in the NYC vicinity, the café has a mail-order gift service.