[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: April 7, 2014]
Back in spring 2004, Andrew Carmellini was still a year away from leaving the Boulud empire and embarking on the path which would lead to being chef/partner at four (soon to be five) buzzy Manhattan restaurants.
In 2004, he was still presiding over some of the best French and international cuisine in the city.
And Café Boulud was still one of my favorite New York restaurants--alongside San Domenico, but somewhat more of an expensive treat. Not that San Domenico was ever cheap.
In early April, 2004, dinner at the Café featured:
Dungeness crab meat with bitter orange gelée
Crayfish bisque
Smoked L.I. duck with orange zest
Cheeses
Veuve Clicquot NV was pursued by a simple Coteaux du Languedoc, 2000.
I did manage some home cooking that week too. Braised lamb shanks in a red wine sauce, for example, with a cannellini bean salad, and grilled chicken tacos. I was working my way through some Robert Michel 2000 Cornas, inspired doubtless by the previous week's wine dinner.
The entertainment highlight of the week: Stephen Sondheim's rarely produced Assassins at Studio 54. That was followed by supper at Bricco: broccoli rabe with grilled sausage, followed by roast veal with mushrooms, and a bottle of Antinori Tomaresca.
I made it up to Harlem on Saturday for an exhibit of Al Hirschfeld's ebullient Harlem drawings at the Studio Museum. Then lunch at Louise's Family restaurant. Out of the three restaurants mentioned this week, only one is now closed: Louise's, of course--although it was still struggling along in 2008.
Baked Virginia ham, collard greens, and black-eyed peas. Nice.
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