at the sign of The Pink Pig

Mission Chinese Food: Boldly Going

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  December 1, 2015]

Danny Bowien's MCF.  It's mission, to explore strange new versions of Chinese cooking, explore new worlds (pizza?), seek out diners who can tolerate extreme spicing, to boldly flavor as no kitchen has flavored before.

Well kind of, and what a delightful environment for a big, rich--very rich--Chinese feast. From pig cheek to pop rocks, MCF has you covered.

Thanksgiving And The Fatty Crab: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 30, 2015]

Enter Zak Pelaccio back in 2o05, with a daring line in Malaysian food adapted and updated for a young New York dining crowd. His Fatty Crab also introduced--or underlined--some themes which have defined the last decade in the city's dining.

No reservations, dishes which come out in an order convenient to the kitchen, a rock soundtrack, and a general rock and roll attitude. And this was B.C.  Before Chang.

Taureau: Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble

[Free stuff by Wilfrid:  November 23, 2015]

You put your meat "in a cauldron of hot oil," says Taureau's website: a prospect not for the nervous. But if you can handle high heat in your immediate vicinity, and like an interactive dining experience, fondue might be for you.

 

After a couple of years in the East Village, in a spot where Le Village now serves bistro fayre, Taureau moved to SoHo and occupied two small, barrel-like rooms next door to owner Didier Pawlicki's La Sirène.

Underground, Sakagura: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 23, 2015]

One of those somewhat hidden New York Japanese veterans.  Like Kuruma Zushi, Sakagura is in a most discreet location, the entrance in a faceless midtown tower barely marked, the restaurant itself in a basement (Kuruma is upstairs, via elevator).

But it's been there almost twenty years, has a devoted following, must be one of the city's longest established izakayas, and is presumably a big draw for serious sake drinkers.

Las Vegas Bites: Milos, Holsteins, Burgr

[A Pig at Large by Wilfrid:  November 16, 2015]

Altogether now, "On the road again..."  Yes, Vegas this time, second time this year, and back to the Cosmo.

Where the Bamboo Pool...well, you'd never know there had been a fire last summer.

Back To Craft: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 16, 2015]

Craft must be one of the higher end restaurants I've visited most often in New York. There were differences of opinion about how to best to approach it, back when the menu was very extensive and à la carte.

These days it's shorter, and for a while now there's been an organized tasting menu option. Ten years ago I went down the route of dining with a large crowd and ordering almost everything. The theory was that the misses--and there were always some--would get lost among the hits.

San Francisco Bites: Trou Normand, Tosca Cafe

[A Pig at Large by Wilfrid:  November 9, 2015]

By the time you read this I'll be back on Pacific Time again, but this time last week I was headed back from the Fort Worth/San Francisco.  I didn't miss a dinner in SF, as I did in Fort Worth, but then my shifting schedule made it difficult to get any of the reservations I wanted.  Left it too late.

But I did make it to the Asian Art Museum (SF MoMA still closed for major renovations).

Jean-Georges Lunch, Alto Tasting: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: November 9, 2015]

I don't know what was up ten years ago, but it's clear from my diary that I was taking some unused vacation, and also eating up a storm.  Trips to Jean-Georges for lunch, to Alto for Michael White's tasting menu, and plenty in between.

Also watching more than one performance of an off-off-Broadway show called Hell Cab, members of the cast of which have reappeared in my life in various circumstances ever since.

The End Of October: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 7, 2015]

A double header coming up, because I'm a week behind with this.

Something new in the East Village, on Avenue A, in the tall building at number 34: Mo Pitkins' House of Satisfaction.  Conceived as a bar, restaurant and art space, this ambitious project installed a bar in the front of the house, a Jewish-influenced dining room behind it, and had at least two (as I remember) performance spaces upstairs.

The walls of the bar featured a Sardi's-like gallery of contemporary downtown performers painted right on the wall. Whatever happened to that?  Because, of course, the dream didn't last.  Over the months, the restaurant became a downstairs performance space, the program shrank, and it eventually closed, first to become an uninteresting dive bar, and now the Ruff Club, a sort of day bar for dogs.

But when it first opened, I had some really quite good meals there (and years before anyone thought of Sadelle's). First go around: excellent potato latkes with apple sauce and sour cream; a Kosher rotisserie chicken with mash; brisket with "Coney Island" fries--crinkle cut in tribute to Nathan's--and chocolate cake with cream.  No, not a kosher kitchen.

The next day involved pleasant parenting: first the Saturday morning childrens' session at Poet's House; then some noodles, chicken and rice at Asian Diner; finally, a showing of that Oscar-winning masterpiece, "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit."

Supper was at the Ukrainian: tripe soup, veal liver with onions (for my toddler, believe it or not), Segedin goulash for me. 

On Sunday I cooked: estofado de perdriz, fingerlings, and a bottle of Cornas "La Geynale" 2000.  Yes, partridge stew.

I must have had some time off work the following week, because I see leisurely lunches at Tides (oyster BLT) and Landmarc (tartine with omato, eggplant, goat cheese; a bottle of Zind). One evening took me to Marie's Crisis Cafe, that reassuring Village standby, and then to Mercadito Grove for supper (a guacamole tasting and baja fish tacos).  I read Dowson's delightful "Apple Blossoms in Brittany" before bed.

The following weekend, dinner at Mas:

Oysters with cider jelly

Trout "Piscator"

Stuffed guinea-fowl, cabbage wrap

Cheeses

My diary is unenlightening on the subject of trout "Piscator," but an old review by Adam Platt helps out: it "consisted of silvery wheels of cool trout stuffed with ramps and mashed smoked trout and set on a salad of fennel and pearl onions."  Nice.

Why No Review? Perils Of The Road: Fort Worth

[A Pig at Large by Wilfrid:  November 3, 2015]

So yes, I was supposed to have posted a restaurant review this week. But for the first time ever...as far as I can remember, anyway, I didn't get to the restaurant.  

Oh sure, I've canceled reservations in the past. Who hasn't? But this is the first time I've been dead set on getting to the place and eating dinner only to be foiled. I was on the road, in Fort Worth Texas.