Chef on Fire!
A few months bac
k, I was at the weekly Tuesday night wine tasting at NY Vintners. As usual, I was starving by the end of it, since Shane only serves bread at these "in-house tastings." (By the way, in-house = staff only and me.) So afterwards, I said, "Hey, Shane, how about we grab an early dinner? You pick the place." Shane's response? "Let’s do it!" We ended up at the terrific Kuma Innin the East Village. Next time we did this, we wound up at a tiny place in Brooklyn called Umi Nom, where we enjoyed another great meal. (It was also the first time I ever had a German Pinot...Becker 2007 Grosses Gewachs Pinot Noir. Danke Shane!)
It was at Umi Nom where Shane and I decided to begin our "food affair." Translation: I bring you to one of my favorite places to dine, and you bring me to one of yours. Like any affair to remember, the
restaurants chosen should not be well known. They must be hidden gems – in other words, not the usual list of dining suggestions to Big Apple tourists, like Jean Georges or Nobu, but off-the-beaten-path-sorta-places, and sometimes not so beaten, like Veritas, where I recently took Shane. (For the record, Veritas ain't what it used to be, so if you're planning on going, don't expect to find us oenophiles hanging out at the bar sharing our '97 Henri Jayer Echezeauz or '89 Montrose…yes, those were the days, and nights, but I will save that for another blog.)
What is really fun about this food romance that Shane and I share is that he is more than just a juice lover – he is a foodie and a chef, unlike my other WFFs, Maralice and Murph. (I often think of them when rendezvousing with Shane. I wonder, does that count as cheating?)
Last night was my turn at the dining helm. So where did we set sail for i
n sweltering, 101 degree temperatures? Apiary , where Chef Scott Bryan can be found creating dishes that are not just going t
o make your taste buds dance with gastronomic joy, but will have you calling out his name in the middle of the night long after you've finished your Vanilla Panna Cotta. Something else you may want to know: no doggie bags are needed at Apiary, because even after you've polished off your last bite of Shrimp & Potato Gnocchi, there will still be sauce in need of sopping... All I can say is thank God for bread. The wine that accompanied this magical meal was a 2002 Francois Cazin Cour-Cheverny.
k, I was at the weekly Tuesday night wine tasting at NY Vintners. As usual, I was starving by the end of it, since Shane only serves bread at these "in-house tastings." (By the way, in-house = staff only and me.) So afterwards, I said, "Hey, Shane, how about we grab an early dinner? You pick the place." Shane's response? "Let’s do it!" We ended up at the terrific Kuma Innin the East Village. Next time we did this, we wound up at a tiny place in Brooklyn called Umi Nom, where we enjoyed another great meal. (It was also the first time I ever had a German Pinot...Becker 2007 Grosses Gewachs Pinot Noir. Danke Shane!)It was at Umi Nom where Shane and I decided to begin our "food affair." Translation: I bring you to one of my favorite places to dine, and you bring me to one of yours. Like any affair to remember, the
restaurants chosen should not be well known. They must be hidden gems – in other words, not the usual list of dining suggestions to Big Apple tourists, like Jean Georges or Nobu, but off-the-beaten-path-sorta-places, and sometimes not so beaten, like Veritas, where I recently took Shane. (For the record, Veritas ain't what it used to be, so if you're planning on going, don't expect to find us oenophiles hanging out at the bar sharing our '97 Henri Jayer Echezeauz or '89 Montrose…yes, those were the days, and nights, but I will save that for another blog.)What is really fun about this food romance that Shane and I share is that he is more than just a juice lover – he is a foodie and a chef, unlike my other WFFs, Maralice and Murph. (I often think of them when rendezvousing with Shane. I wonder, does that count as cheating?)
Last night was my turn at the dining helm. So where did we set sail for i
n sweltering, 101 degree temperatures? Apiary , where Chef Scott Bryan can be found creating dishes that are not just going t
o make your taste buds dance with gastronomic joy, but will have you calling out his name in the middle of the night long after you've finished your Vanilla Panna Cotta. Something else you may want to know: no doggie bags are needed at Apiary, because even after you've polished off your last bite of Shrimp & Potato Gnocchi, there will still be sauce in need of sopping... All I can say is thank God for bread. The wine that accompanied this magical meal was a 2002 Francois Cazin Cour-Cheverny.
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