NYC Tastes

We did a mini beer crawl through Brooklyn last week and one of our final stops of the day was Mugs Ale House.  This place has been around forever and I love how it seems completely unchanged by time.  The beer list here is amazing.   Want to try out a Cantillion- they had three different ones on the menu when we were there. The Rose de Grambinus was absolutely gorgeous with a strong sour lambic taste and lots of dry funk. The Cantillion was an easy decision, my second beer choice was much more difficult...the draft list was filled with so many amazing beers.   So we stayed for a while and tried a bunch of different ones and ordered some food.  The Radeburger Salad was chock full of figs, Roquefort cheese and walnuts.  I was surprised to see the big old fried onion rings on top but who says no to onion rings ? The mac and cheese was pretty standard but lacked flavor.  The soft pretzel was a much better addition to the table....warm...

I took the train up to Bedford Hills last week for a delightful little brunch with my friend Carrie.  The Bedford Post Inn is probably best known for being owned by Richard Gere but the grounds themselves are quite stunning on their own.  The sprawling inn holds two different restaurants, one fine dining and the less formal Barn where we decided to eat our meal on their outdoor patio.  The waiter started us out with a warm loaf of bread from their in house bakery. Then it was our entrees the Chicken Paillard for me. I love the simplicity of this dish...the chicken and greens were both lightly dressed with just a little lemon and parmigiano cheese.  The greens had such great fresh flavor I'm wondering if they were produced locally from a nearby farm.  Carrie went the seafood route with a big bowl of mussels... ...which came with some ridiculously delicious french fries.   Thank goodness Carrie doesn't mind sharing because my hand was ...

It's been a while since I've stopped for a meal at Eataly's fresh and seasonal restaurant Le Verdure.  I love seeing how they create new dishes using all of the fruits and vegetables from right next door in the produce section.  I began with a special that day  Polentina- warm polenta bites with ramps, mushrooms, mozzarella, marinara and watercress. This dish made it very easy to fall in love with polenta.  The squares had crisp charred edges and the fresh mozzarella with bitter ramps were absolute perfection.  I added on the special Mushroom and Barley soup. The tomato broth was thicker than a normal vegetable soup and with big hunks of mustard greens and carrot.  Hearty, earthy and delicious. Le Verdure   

Let's stick with another local beer for this week- the Oak Aged Unearthly from Southern Tier.  If you remember I loved this brewery when I  reviewed  it last year. It's an Imperial IPA, similar to the  Double Trouble  in style and strength.  The aroma that hit me upon opening the bottle was bananas and citrus.   The flavor was also of banana but with a round sweet end of caramel, vanilla and oak.  There were great hops but I found the beer to be surprisingly creamy and smooth...a very enjoyable Imperial IPA.  Cheers! Southern Tier Brewery

My very last event of the Cocktail Classic was their independent spirits expo highlighting small batch, artisinal distillers from around the world.  The walk around tasting was held at the Penn Club this year and the gorgeous setting made for quite the cap off to the fabulous five day event.  There were so many wonderful people and products...here's a few of my favorites. The amazing drinks from Machu Pisco.  I love the sweet, spicy flavor of Pisco and this particular blend was very smooth.   The incredibly interesting Novo Fogo, a type of Cachaca that's been aged in tiny oak barrels for over two years before bottling.  The flavor ends up as a mix of oak and vanilla...a great spin on regular Cachaca. Always one of my favorites, Tia Maria, was served with pressed espresso, port wine and a flurry of chocolate on top... ...and a new favorite of the expo Keep It Simple Syrup.  My family loves Mojito's but who wants to spend all...

Everyone knows the main dining room at Gramercy Tavern offers a fabulous tasting menu every night, but did you know the Tavern also offers a tasting menu with totally different items and at a much lesser cost.  Mr T and I were intrigued by the most recent one titled A Celebration of Craft Beer. We began with a Roasted Oyster amuse bouche from the chef. This was phenomenal.  I loved how roasting gave the oyster a warm smokiness that was surprisingly perfect with the brine...even Mr. T enjoyed this and he is not an oyster fan.  Onto our first course Shrimp & Mussels in a Carrot, Coconut and Quinoa Broth. The combination of  flavors in this dish were lovely.  It had a thicker broth than one would imagine, much earthier from the quinoa but then the coconut gave it an Asian spin and really lightened it up.  The pairing with a crisp Peekskill Simple Sour was spot on too.  Second course Smoked Sweetbreads with Grilled Asparagus and Toast...

Thank goodness Sugar and Plumm opened in the West Village. This crackly cinnamon sugar cookie has creamy center of vanilla and custard.... ...this is just what this Tuesday needs.   Sugar and Plumm