Bonus Restaurant Blog Friday!!! Momofuku Noodle Go!

Am I a bad foodie? As I am writing this I am trying to force defrost a week old sausage in a plastic baggie in a bowl of water for my dinner. I may also be sipping straight bourbon simply because I was reading about Beer and Bourbon Festival today that I can't afford to go to and was hankering for it, and didn't have the energy to turn it into a proper cocktail. Some nights I create complicated adventurous meals and some nights I'm just a depressing human being.

So lately I've gotten away from the whole "Restaurant Review" aspect of this blog, mostly because I'm too busy (read: poor) to have dined out much lately. Also though, I've enjoyed the rhythm of testing, eating, and posting about a recipe every Monday (even if on Sunday morning, I still sometimes don't know what that recipe is going to be). With restaurant week arriving Monday, however, I'm going to be jonesing to tell you about my upcoming adventures. Reservations are made, lunch at Tabla and dinner at Park Avenue Winter! Squeee! In order to not screw up this delicate balance of blogging, I will be moving all restaurant reviews for the foreseeable future to Bonus Blog Fridays. Bonus Blog Friday's, for any newcomers, is when I post extra content that I've actually managed to find time to write during the week. It's not a guaranteed post date, but a little something extra.

As a primer for these restaurant Friday's, I wanted to share with you the wonderful time I had this week FINALLY trying Momofuku Noodle Bar. I am a big ramen fan, and when I was cursed with a cold a few weeks ago, I pouted until Will took me out for a big steamy noodley bowl to make me feel better. It worked, and even though now I'm better, I've been hankering for it again ever since. The frigid New York weather can just get inside you sometimes, but you know a giant hot bowl of soup could cure it. And it will be awesome. I had remembered last year reading a blog on the NY Magazine site where they took Iron Chef Morimoto around to the East Village to judge and rate this somewhat trendy version of the Japanese street food (and startled the hell out of Momofuku owner David Chang). The winner was Momofuku Noodle Bar, which happens to also be the most expensive at about $16 a bowl. While the other ramen places tend to be more traditional, a counter, some stools, and not much else on the menu besides the soup, Momofuku is more of a restaurant, with a varied drink and sake menu, sides, appetizers, and the top rated ramen in NY.

It's an impressive place, so when Will and I first attempted to go there last week, the huge line just to get in deterred us. I was hungry, and am really not considered a patient person. This week, however, I was determined to try it. We had a guest in town, the incomparable and wonderful Anne, and we were seeing a show in the village at 7pm. Perfect, I thought. We'll get there early, before it gets insane, and get seats. Meeting time: 5:30pm. Watches synchronized, and GO! Anne and I turned up early and discovered the place was closed until exactly 5:30 for a private event. Perfect, we would wait outside until they opened the doors and get prime seats. Except Will was late. And they won't seat you until the entire party is there. And the place was filling up with hipsters quickly. Dirty, faux-hawked hipsters. We waited outside, and I hopped from one foot to another whining like a petulant child. Will arrived about ten minutes later, having been screwed over by a sluggish R train. We went in and scored fantastic seats, right on the end of the long communal table by the window. We weren't crowded when the front of the restaurant did fill up with waiting people fifteen minutes later and we were perfectly arranged for conversation. Momofuku gets full points for this.

The waitress was very patient as I inquired about the slushy drinks, the difference between the Ginger and the Apple Cider, and how incredibly alcoholic they were. I decided on the Apple Cider (more smooth, she said) and the small (as I wanted to remember the show that night). Anne took a Japanese beer and Will, always our alcohol adventurer, did a sake flight. I may have helped him. A little. Part of the reason I did this was my drink was "small" which was pretty tiny, about 8oz. It did not last the whole meal. If you aren't planing in engaging in cultural interaction later in the evening, maybe get the large.

I had read that the restaurant was doing interesting things with chicken. They offer a fried chicken dinner that you have to reserve in advance (the only reservations the restaurant allows) where you have to bring between four and six people and they make this special fried chicken that people are going nuts over. We did not have four people or a reservation, but I saw smoked chicken wings on the menu and we ordered them as a starter to split. They were made with pickled chilies, scallions, and garlic and were a perfect starter. The meat fell off the bone and they nailed that tangy/sweet thing you expect from an Asian chicken wing, but without being overwhelming in either direction. The order included about eight wings and had I not been expecting a giant bowl of soup for my entree, I may have ordered a second round. I would definitely recommend them.

But now we were onto the main event--the ramen. Now if I were a professional reviewer with an expense account that would let me take my friends out for dinner and then insist on what they were to order so that I could try everything, we would have tried all three of the ramens offered by the establishment (are you listening NY Times?). However, we were all paying for our own meals and of course each of us wanted to order the most famous and best reputed dish, the Momofuku Ramen, so I can only tell you about this one dish. It's a good one to know about, however. The broth was rich, savory, and that perfect amount of salty. What set it apart from other pork ramens I've had though was the use of different cuts. Most establishments give you the requisite two or three slices of pork for you to break apart and mix into your soup. Momofuku gives you shredded pork that mixes in easily, and then a few sliced of a more tough cut to eat separately. As I always feel like I don't have enough pork, this was a boon, a delightful bounty of pork in my soup.

There is one wild card in ramen, the egg. I am a huge fan of egg in Ramen, my favorite being at Ramen Setagaya where it's half a soft boiled egg which I put soy sauce on and eat separately, slurping out the yolk and eating the egg with bites of noodle. This is a slightly undignified and almost religious experience. It also disgusts Will more then words can say. He cannot deal with egg, at all. Unless it's been mixed into the food in such a way that the raw ingredient is unrecognizable, he won't go near the things. He says it's the smell. I do not discourage this, as it always means more egg for me. That religious experience egg? I get to eat two of them because he scoops his into my bowl. At Momofuku they go with a poached egg. Will's first order of business was to scoop it into his spoon and try to hand it off to me. Well it exploded. It dripped all into his bowl and over his pork and noodles. His face approximated something of a kicked puppy. He looked so sad, all those lovely ramen components, covered in the one thing he really didn't want to eat! Before I could even react, Anne grabbed her bowl and switched it with his. I think she just wanted to make the face go away. "It's okay, I like egg!" she exclaimed, as I carefully scooped the intact egg out of his new bowl and deposited it in my own. Between the two of us we had saved Will's dinner. And I got two eat two delectable eggs (though I still kinda prefer the soft boiled kind in my ramen).

In the end the whole night was a blast, and it was a much better overall experience then you'll get at most of the other ramen bars in New York. If I just needed a quick dinner, or was just trying to ease a cold, I would go with one of the other places, Rai Rai Ken or Ramen Setagya, where you'll still get a fantastic bowl of soup for a lesser price and without the "trendy restaurant" feel. For a group outing though, having a "New York" experience, this place was absolutely perfect. Just arrive early or the "New York" experience will be that of standing in a group of tightly packed people waiting for the night to begin. And we have the subway for that.

The Modern

God I love Restaurant Week date night. Twice a year, when RW week rolls around, Will and I splurge on a really nice dinner—we dress up, we get cocktails somewhere fancy before dinner. It's a nice indulgence. Neither of us really knew all that much about fine dinning when we moved here, so it's fun to discover the little luxuries that come with dining in a restaurant of a little prestige. Little details, like returning from the bathroom to discover your napkin refolded (Will said a waiter swooped in "like a ninja" seconds after I had vacated my seat to perform this task; I like the idea of a napkin ninja) or having the waiter scrape the breadcrumbs off the table with a straight edge between courses. I'm sure we've looked like absolute hicks trying to act normal around attention to ceremony that is so foreign to us, but the staff generally expects newbies during RW I imagine, and I doubt they're surprised.

This year I chose The Modern, a restaurant inside the Museum of Modern Art, or MOMA. I had heard wonderful things about how it was a fantastic place by Danny Meyer, a revolution in museum dining. I was wary after trying what the Metropolitan Museum of Art tried to pass off as a wine bar last year (from food to service it was terrible, don't even try it) but it was RW and I was feeling adventurous. MOMA is free on Friday nights, so I decided to make a complete night of it and make my reservation for Friday night at eight. Those who follow NYCGo on Twitter (like I do) were given a link to book reservations a day before the general public, and thank god they did. By the next day there was nothing in the ballpark of my 8 pm reservation, and by the day of there wasn't a reservation to be had the whole night. I may or may not have felt a bit smug about this.

The Modern is split into two rooms the Dining Room, and the Bar Room. The Dining Room is more upscale with linens on the tables, a higher end menu, a jacket policy, and a view of MOMA's sculpture garden. The Dining Room is also not available for RW. The Bar Room is still a very classy dining experience, jackets are not required but are certainly not out of place, linen napkins, and view of a very swanky bar. Quite frankly I think we were more comfortable where we were.

The menu offered, which can be found here was the most extensive offering I have experienced yet. Instead of the usual three appetizers, three entrees, and three desserts to choose from, The Modern offered about 2/3 of it's normal menu. I was ecstatic, and I wished we had five more people with us so as to have a greater sampling of food. Our waitress was perfect, a huge smile and curly hair, it was definitely not the attitude of mere tolerance you can get from some high end restaurant staff. She was helpful, informative, and delightful the whole evening.

For our first course I had the Wild Mushroom Soup with Toasted Chorizo Ravioli. The soup was extremely rich and decadent. Will tasted it and was not nearly as happy with it as I was, but then he's not nearly as big a fan of mushrooms as I am. The Chorizo was crispy and spicy, but I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do with them. I dipped them in the soup, but it wasn't an entirely complementary flavor. Will had the Roasted Long Island Duck Breast with Peppercorn Crusted Apples and Toasted Pistachio Truffle Dipping Sauce. Will first tried the duck alone, and was extremely happy. Then he cut into the apple (which we both thought was a potato) and found the combo to be complex and delightful. Then he tried dipping the apple in the sauce and I thought he was going to storm the kitchen to deliver his accolades.

The pacing for the meal was also well done, instead of serving one course on top of the other to turn over tables and increase profit margins, we were given about 10-15 minutes between courses to digest and talk, it was refreshing. For my second course I had the Saffron Tagliatelle with Cider Braised Rabbit, Wild Mushrooms, and Baby Zucchini. I've never had rabbit before, it's a bit gamey but the braising made it meltingly moist. Will tried to call it "bunny" at one point, and I resisted the urge to kick him under the table. No linens to hide it, you know. I’ll have to make a mental note to kick him later; he won’t see it coming.

The mushroom sauce gave a nice narrative to the meal after the soup, it was much sutler but equally satisfying. Will had the Pan Roasted Hanger Steak with Asparagus, Artichoke, and Parmesan. There was also a parsley pesto sauce, Will was more then happy but when I tasted I thought the sauce overpowered a bit. That might just be that Will swiped up too much when he gave me a taste. We were both so pleased with our meals that we used the one remaining roll to sop up whatever sauce was remaining on our plates. Probably not model etiquette but a definite complement to the chef.

Again we were given a respectable rest between courses before Will tackled the Carmel and White Chocolate Trifle with Apricot Gelee, and I took on the Pistachio Dark Chocolate Dome with Pistachio Ice Cream and Amaretto Gelee. The waitress was kind enough to make a special trip over to us to explain the layers of Will's Trifle, a tropical flavored dish that came with a side of pineapple mixed with cilantro. With the dark chocolate my dessert paired better with the 2005 Triennes Saint Auguste Syrah we were drinking. The Modern has had the foresight to offer bottles under $40 during RW. After such an elaborate meal I mentioned to Will that I might not finish my dessert, at which point he started eyeing it. Like a perfect gentleman, Will was kind enough to polish it off for me.

Café Boulud

It's Restaurant Week in New York! A misleading title since it technically runs 3 weeks, from July 12 to the 31st, but still, a reason for celebration! The set up, for those of you who have not experienced this joyous time, is this: Twice a year, in January and July, restaurants, some that you could never afford at a normal time, put together 3 course prix fix menus. Currently in NY it goes for $24.07 for lunch (a riff on 24/7, which is silly since restaurant week isn't offered on weekends, they can't get enough of misleading titles) and dinner is $35.

Restaurant Week does have its critics. Generally the restaurants won't offer their signature dishes on the prix fix menu and there are less costly cuts of meat and fish being offered up to help boost the profit margin. Restaurant staffs also tend to be less then excited about this time of the year, since the restaurants tend to be packed on what are normally slow nights and the checks (and for that matter the tips) tend to be far less. This can lead to less then welcoming experiences in places that are usually known for their service. Despite all of this, I enjoy RW immensely. There are only so many times you can hear about a famous restaurant and salivate over the reviews with the knowledge that you, and your non-profit paycheck, will never dine there. After moving to NY this opened some of the culinary wonders of the city to me, even if it may be a slightly reduced version of these wonders.

On Tuesday I had lunch with my boss at Café Boulud on the Upper East Side. I started this tradition with my boss--also a culinary freak--last winter when we ate at Eleven Madison. Now it is the official Advertising Department Restaurant Week Lunch, very important to department morale and productivity. Daniel Boulud is one of the star chefs of NYC (and around the world for that matter) with many successful restaurants under his belt. He just opened the more affordable DBGB in the East Village which I enjoyed, but I was looking forward to trying one of his more upscale establishments. Due to subway issues we arrived about five minutes late. When we got there that rainy afternoon and were checking our umbrellas, a man huffed out of the restaurant complaining that he had made a reservation but there was no room and demanding his umbrella. Nervous, I hurried inside. The job of picking the place and making the reservation was mine, and no one wants to look like they aren't competent at securing a table in front of their boss. I have no idea what that guy's problem was because we were seated right away, thank god. We were seated in the back of the dining room, pretty much in Siberia, but we had a table in a packed dining room and shame on us for being late. It being 1:30 pm on a Tuesday on the Upper East Side, the crowd was a little on the geriatric side. It definitely was not the hip place to be, but I was there for the food, not to try to catch a siting of the cast of Gossip Girl.

The full RW menu being offered up can be found here. The star dish that I tried was the Crispy Tiger Prawns with pineapple, cilantro, pickled jalapeno, and Thai eggplant puree. The crunch of the prawns combined with the sweetness of the pineapple combined with the head of the peppers and Thai spices had me melting. For my second course I tried the Spinach and Goat Cheese Raviolis. Maybe I should have gone for the Hanger Steak, but Will and I were planning on steak for dinner that evening and there's only so much red meat a girl can take. The [Photo]Raviolis were very good, comfort food on a rainy day, but didn't strike me as something I couldn't

make myself. The menu on the website is a little different then the one they had out that day, my boss had fish but I know it wasn't Mahi Mahi. She enjoyed it though. For desert we both had a raspberry sorbet with lady fingers that also isn't on the posted menu. This was a very refreshing summer treat.

The food was excellent, one of the better RW meals I've been served, but the atmosphere was a bit lacking. It didn't have the grand gracefulness of Eleven Madison, or the trendy vibe of Butter, or the elegant stateliness of One if by Land, Two if by Sea. Really it was just a tastefully decorated room, from which celebrated french cooking is presented. Not my scene, but absolutely my "taste."

Check back Friday for a bonus blog, where more points are won in all categories on my RW week date with Will to the Modern.