Omakase at Neta

It's funny how most menu items cost about same across the board -- a good burger is about $18, a nice roasted chicken dish is $25, a filet's about $32 -- and tasting menus are completely all over the place. We had an awesome four-course meal at Cava in Portsmouth for $35 and 11 courses at Europea in Montreal for $70 -- not including the multiple courses of desserts. It's hard to go from getting so much bang for your buck to paying high end for omakase -- $135 at Neta -- and getting so much less. Yeah, you have to factor in where you are (West Village is not New Hampshire) and the quality of food you are receiving (high-end sushi is not Spanish tapas) but when the difference of two tasting menus are over $100 apart, its hard not to wonder where all that additional money is going.

Anyway, with that rambling cost analysis aside, I have to say that Neta's sushi is great, fresh, high-quality and all that, but it's not very memorable. It was funny going through Europea and Au Pied de Cochon pictures and remembering what every bite tasted like, and then looking through Neta pics -- literally taken the day we got back from Montreal -- and only having a few items stand out.

While I waited for my dining counterparts to show, I sipped on this Rangaku, a punch made from "merlow barrel aged birds eye chili mead" from South Africa (so... red spicy honey wine?) and rooibus ginger tea and yuzu sorbet. It was kind of like a sake -- clear, sweet, balanced.

I asked the difference between the $95 and $135 omakase. Like I expected, the higher priced omakase includes higher quality ingredients, and isn't necessarily larger save for a course or two.  

We started with this. I don't remember what it was. Was it fluke and shrimp? Maybe.

Then one of the dishes for fancy omakase only: toro tuna tartar with sturgeon caviar and toast. It was pretty decadent.

Then Spanish Mackerel Tataki topped with a myoga vegetable salad with ginger and soy. Not as memorable. But then back to the kickass...

Sea urchin with raw scallops! I mean, what more can I say. It's more about the freshness and the fact that they're my favorites than anything else. The preparation is an afterthought.

 

This next tempura dish was meant to flaunt their veggies, I think. The Times review said they had respectable vegetable sushi, and most people aren't going to ask for it by name, so here it is. Shisito peppers and tofu and a little bit of soft shell shrimp. The spiciness and crispiness was a nice counterpoint to the scallop and uni from before.

My absolute favorite of the evening: rice with spicy salmon tartar and bonito flakes, served on a hot plate. It reminded me of a decadent bibimbap, hot crispy rice with cool, wet fish on top and saltiness from the dancing bonito. Sooo gooood.
 

Now onto the sushi. My favorite kinds to start: salmon with Szechuan sauce, spanish mackerel and toro. As you can see, the fish was gleamingly fresh, and had that perfect bite to it. Is umami a texture thing, too?

Then orange clam, scallop and kanpachi (amberjack).

The cooked fish. Softshell crab and seared toro.

And rolls. Tuna and eel. None of which were as good as the rounds of raw sushi.

Finally, a palate cleanser of rice in shiso.I thought it meant more fish was coming but...

... we were cleansing for dessert. Which was this grapefruit sorbet.

Okay, so when I left I was pretty pleased and all, but as I thought about it I realized that as one of the more expensive tasting menus we've splurged for, not just in that past week but ever, and thus it should be one of the more memorable. The fish was fresh -- can't argue that -- and the creativity was there -- sure, to an extent -- but I feel like we should have been eating less shrimp and a little more types of toro, maybe some crab, maybe that duck & foie I saw on the menu (though after our weekend in Montreal it was probably the last thing we needed). And definitely dessert! Ice cream, chocolate, something. Grapefruit sorbet is more of a palate cleaner in and of itself!

I also think we missed out on something by sitting at a table. They say there are two types of people in a sushi restaurant -- those at the sushi bar and tourists.

I'm going to Yasuda in a few days and when making the reservation I said the word "counter" and "bar" at least five times. I'm excited to do more... uh... comparison research.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend hitting Neta for a cocktail and some a la carte sushi. I think I'm getting stingy with my omakase recommendations.

Neta

61 W. 8th St.

Annisa is Still My Favorite Restaurant

I love Annisa for a lot of reasons. The dining room is the right balance of comfortable and elegant, the bar is great for downing one signature cocktail after the next (try the Nash), and on the menu, there is always something new to taste and something familiar to savor. But the best reason to love this place is safety in trying a completely new (to me) ingredient. I can almost guarantee that I will enjoy whatever this new thing is. But then, I'm spoiled by how great it is. For example, I tried my first soft shell crab here, and, thinking I really liked it, ordered at a few other restaurants before realizing I only really like Anita's soft shell crab. C'est la vie.

On our last visit I tried cooked calf liver for the first time (had an amazing raw version at Bozu two years ago, though). Annisa's, with bacon, sweet peas and maple blossoms, was fantastically prepared, with warm, hearty, tender meat practically melting into sweet peas and tangy onions. So comforting and yet so original.

Frog's legs. I have never tried frog's legs until a recent Annisa visit. They remind me of tiny chicken wings with funny, tiny bones, only super tender and delicate. The delicacy was offset by buttery lobster in buttery grits, at once a familiar Southern comfort and a decadent luxury. Those lobstery bites may well have been my favorite of the evening.

There were a few other new things for me, too. Fried calf brain came alongside medallions of veal, and after a few timid bites, I realize I really liked the soft, fragrant and meaty nuggets, if only I could forget what they were. And pig's feet, stuffed with sherry inside a whole pan roasted chicken.

And while we're on the topic of new fried food, I really liked the garlic fried milk that accompanies the Spanish mackerel. It wasn't at all what I expected. I assumed it would be more of a liquid than a savory, creamy beignet. Almost like a cheese puff.

I'm going back in the Fall. And I already can't wait!


annisa
13 Barrow St.

Sweet Summer Treats

I walk by Sweet Leaf in LIC every morning on my way to work. Sometimes I stop in for an iced Vietnamese or New Orleans coffee, but only recently did I discover they have pretty amazing baked goods, too. My newest obsession is a strawberry scone with black pepper. It's fresh and moist and has lots of pepper to offset the strawberries baked inside.

And today, wandering from the West Village to the East Village just for its own sake, I needed something ice cold to keep me going. The chocolate dipped pistachio gelato from popbar did the trick, until it started melting about five seconds later. You gotta eat these fast on 90 degree days!

Sweet Leaf

10-93 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens

popbar

5 Carmine St. (@ 6th Ave.)

Fatty Meats at Fatty Crab

I was already fan of the Fatty empire on my first visit to Fatty Cue in Brooklyn about 18 months ago. First, it was the super strong but well-balanced cocktails at the bar. Then, it was the intoxicating smokiness in the dining room that filled my head with visions of blissful backyard barbeques and farmland smokehouses. Then it was the food -- the noodles with meat juices, the fried bacon, the spicy pork ribs. 

Fatty Crab holds the same philosophy in meat, fusion and flavors, but with less of an emphasis on pork and more of hints of fusion -- in this case, Malaysian. While Fatty Cue is like Fette Sau in a hipster's tuxedo, Fatty Crab leans heavier in the Southeast direction.

My first trip to the West Village location on Sunday night lent itself to four types of meat. The beef rendang reminded me of Srirpraphai's beef penang curry, with tender, meaty and fatty short ribs melting over heaps of spicy coconut rice. The mussels were slightly sweet with yuzu. The bone-in duck was perfectly cooked, medium rare. But the stand-out was the crispy pork belly with watermelon, both with a crunch, with sweet and vinegary watermelon a refreshing reprieve to the saltiness of the hot pork. 

 Next time, I'd like to try the crab.

Fatty Crab

643 Hudson Street
(between Horatio and Gansevoort)

Brunch at Eighty Four on Seventh

Yesterday afternoon I headed to the West Village for a late brunch with a few girls. It's rare for me to leave Brooklyn for an early meal on weekends, especially during the winter, but it seems like the brunch crowds are much more manageable on cold days.

Eighty Four on Seventh was only about half full at 2pm on Saturday. There was only one girl serving all the tables, so the service was a bit slow, but it was nice for a leisurely brunch. Definitely different from the typical long wait and subsequent rush to turn tables at Brooklyn Label.

Hot coffee with steamed milk to start. I had the fennel sausage with honey biscuits, poached eggs and gravy. The biscuit was soft and sweet and the eggs were cooked perfectly. If only it were a little hotter, it would have been perfect.

My friend had the much prettier house cured peameal, which is a type of Canadian bacon, served on top of a potato pancake and topped with sunny side up eggs and cheddar cheese. I didn't get a picture of the frittata (tomatoes, zucchini and feta with pistachio pesto) but that was delicious as well.

We also split an order of jalepeno hush puppies with maple butter dipping sauce -- crispy, savory, salty, sweet. 

Eighty Four on Seventh

84 Seventh Ave South

Weekend of Michelin-Starred Gluttony: Bouley and Annisa

This weekend was a festive one, and I ended up partaking in two menu tastings in the city. Bouley, for lunch on Friday, was a fantastic deal with four courses for only $55. Maybe I'm biased, but the food, service and overall dining experience was noticeably better last night at Annisa. 

The dining room at Bouley is pretty in an old school rich, formal library kind of way. It had a funny evening-style feel that confused me when I walked outside and saw it was still daytime.

Bouley has the type of tasting menu where you choose from about three items for each course. I like being able to coordinate this way, bartering with Rob over who will get what for each course. We ended up splitting everything down the middle which worked better in his favor, because I wound up picking all the winners.


We started with a summery palate cleanser of celery sorbet, halved cherries and beets.

Course 1 -- bibb salad with a light pine nut dressing and dandelions; tuna sashimi. The raw dish had some kind of tiny jelly squares that enhanced the salty/fruity wetness of the dish.

Course 2 -- porcini flan and black bass. The black bass was a forgettable, overly fancy version of something that can be done much better (See: Annisa) while the porcini flan with dungeness crab was easily my favorite dish of the whole meal. The second you take the lid off the tiny copper pot your face is bathed in a warm, truffley aroma. The one inch-long piece of dungeness crab is supplemented by hunks of regular crab. The dish has a great mixed texture of heady broth with pockets of creamy tidbits. Amazing.

Main course -- duck and chicken. Both were cooked really well, but overdressed with sauce. The chicken with buttermilk and tarragon didn't really taste like much, but it was very tender. The duck with truffle honey was a perfect medium-rare, but despite being covered in thick gravy I couldn't really make out the truffle or the honey. I really liked the surprise side of mashed potatoes that came with both of these. It looked like butter and tasted like cheese.

Another palate cleanser -- a nice melon soup with a thick dollop of rich ricotta. A mellow combination of sweet and salty to reset the taste buds before dessert.

For dessert, we got the cheese plate and the chocolate. The cheese plate was forgettable, and no one explained what any of it was. The one really cool thing about it was one of the harder cheeses was cut up along the top to look like a real white flower. The chocolate souffle was amazingly rich and chocolatey -- maybe the one thing I like better here than at Annisa -- with the darkest scoop of ice cream imaginable and a melty buttercream of (I think) espresso.

Finally, coffee and petit fours, which was more like petit 12. The dessert tower offered up macarons, sesame brittle, chocolate truffles and a few others. It was hard, but we polished it off.

Last night a group of six of us dined at Annisa. Here we did the tasting menu the way it should be done -- leaving each and every course up to the kitchen to decide. After the contrast from Friday's lunch, it's amazing how relaxed the atmosphere is here. The dining room is intimate but casual, the staff members are attentive and lovely, the drinks are well-balanced, the dishes are subtle and unique. Here are pictures of the honey lavender julep and cucumber gimlet:

First, the amuse of chicken liver mousse in crispy little bite-sized cups.

The raw courses to start. I had the tuna two ways: hot and cold. The raw tartare is always my favorite in this one. There's a bit of marinated seaweed in the center. Great presentation. Others in our group got the fluke ceviche with black lime and radish.

Next was the wild boar belly with fried eel on top, a small salad of apple and daikon, and a soup spoon with the braising liquid from the boar. I'm not a big fan of eel, but I did love the soft rich, deep flavors in this dish, which balances well with the sweet and crunch from the apple. Here's also an obligatory photo of the signature foie gras soup dumpling -- the only item Anita never rotates off the menu.

I've had the miso marinated sable before, but I don't remember it being this good. It is fantastic and flaky, perfectly cooked with a crispy exterior, paired with silken tofu soaking in a bonito broth with lots of crunchy roe. The roe settles to the bottom of the dish so towards the end, the roe starts popping like crazy in your mouth like a fourth of July finale.

Next, a new item for this spring -- golden trout with golden split peas and a syrup-glazed bacon. I'm almost glad Photoshop isn't working for me so you can see how GREEN this came out in the half light. This was a popular dish at the table, definitely the favorite of a few.

My personal favorite was the Wagyu with escarcots. I'm still amazed that beef this lean can be so tender and flavorful. I have never been wowed by Wagyu in the past, so it was nice to verify that it isn't just a gimmicky hype. I've never had escargots before and wasn't in a huge hurry to try them. I expected chewy, springy snails that tasted like mussels, but instead it was buttery with a texture more like a tiny scallop. Loved finishing with some red meat after all the fish.

After the meal we played a very fun game of dessert roulette. The cheese plate here beat the pants off the one at Bouley -- even without the gaudy flower. The chocolate tasting is more unique too -- love the malted bubble tea and the mousse. I wasn't crazy about the banana and peanut butter tower -- I've had it before, and found it a little plain -- but the poppyseed bread pudding with myer lemon curd surprised me and maybe became my new favorite. The butterscotch beignets always capture hearts, especially with the thoughtful pairing of bourbon ice (but that's always secondary). The nectarine posset rounded out the dessert with some fruit. I didn't get pictures of them all, but here's chocolate plate, the banana tower and the bread pudding:

This weekend definitely solidified Annisa as my favorite restaurant in the city. It's going to be hard going back to normal eating after a weekend of spoilage.


Bouley
163 Duane Street
Tribeca


Annisa
13 Barrow Street
West Village