New York, New York: It's a Wonderful Town! Part One

I just returned from a business trip where, lucky girl that I am, I got to eat at some of New York's tastiest restaurants with some of the best and brightest authors around. The week included a number of private dinners and fancy-pants receptions (including a rare opportunity to chat with the usually reclusive Philip Roth).

Lauren (the children's book buyer at UBS) and I arrived late last Wednesday night and met up with a friend at a sweet East Village restaurant called Supper. We started with the delicious Salmon Marinato, an arugula salad dressed with thin slices of cured salmon,

lemon and shaved Parmesan. I tried a special tagliatelle with prosciutto and marinara (this intrigued me, since I've normally only had prosciutto with cream sauces). At our friend Kris's recommendation, we ordered the hazelnut panna cotta. It was crazy good, drowned in chocolate sauce and topped with fresh berries. Kris clearly knows her stuff. (Here'a a picture of me trying the tiramisu, with the panna cotta in the foreground). I couldn't believe how affordable this place was--I think our bill came to about $40 each, for three courses, a glass of wine, tax and tip. What a deal!

Lauren and I were staying in Brooklyn, so lunch on Thursday clearly had to be at Junior's. This place has been serving diners since 1950, and is world famous for it's cheesecake (after walking around, I got a bit turned around and asked a guy on the street to direct me. He knew just where it was.) Sadly, I didn't get to try the cheesecake, but chowed down a huge BLT with the complimentary sides: homemade beets and pickles. I have to say that these were some of the best I've ever had. The beets were tender and simultaneously sweet and tangy. The pickles were crunchy, salty and perfectly brined. In fact, these were so good that I asked if I could buy a pickle or two to take home. The lovely waiter got me a whole container of pickles to take with me--they made a fantastic late night snack!

One of the highlights of the week was a reception on Friday night at Cafe Gray in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle with the aforementioned Philip Roth. His publisher Houghton Mifflin was celebrating the publication of his upcoming book Exit Ghost and could not have thrown a classier party! Even though I was a little tongue-tied trying to make conversation with Mister Roth, I still managed to enjoy the amazing appetizers that were provided. There were tiny braised short rib tartlets with creamy grits, beautiful little salad hand rolls, a gorgeous, aromatic ground lamb pizza that was served on a hot stone that sizzled atop whole spices and tuna tartar and tiny chicken wings that were breaded with pink lentils and fried. But by informal poll, the mushroom risotto cakes were the partygoer's favorite.
And you heard it here first: risotto cakes are the thing to serve at cocktail parties. I tasted three different versions at three different parties over the weekend! I'm not sure they would translate well for home use, but even the least delicious risotto cakes were pretty darn good. Our party that night continued with an informal dinner at Landmarc , where I tried their nicoise salad (I am slightly obsessed with this currently) and finished with an annual secret party for booksellers at Cowgirl.