Tuesday, June 19, 2007

New York, New York: Part Two

After eating my weight in risotto balls and other small bites the night before, I was ready for a real meal. So Saturday night found me at The Modern, which is the cafe that is part of MoMA. Having heard great things about this place, I was excited to be invited to a private dinner there. Hidden away in the Bar Room, about 40 booksellers and publishing types gathered to celebrate the new novels from Tom Perotta (known for Little Children and Election) and Gail Tsukiyama (Dreaming Water).
I hate to say it, but I was a little disappointed by the food. It may be that as part of a private party, our food was prepared more "banquet style;" I found my salad over-dressed, and my beef tenderloin, while beautifully cooked, was over-salted. The best part of the meal was the lovely buttermilk panna cotta with strawberry sorbet and rhubarb compote, served in a shallow bowl with a paper-thin slice of candied rhubarb set jauntily across the rim.

Luckily, the company outshone the food. It was an absolute delight to talk with Perotta and Tsukiyama about their new books: The Abstinence Teacher and The Street of a Thousand Blossoms respectively. And they surprised us by accepting our invitation to a dance party that was happening down at The Fillmore. This is an annual opportunity for booksellers and publishing people to blow off steam and shake their groove thang. It's actually pretty great. The evening ended around 1:30, as we found our way back to Brooklyn, and to bed.
Even though I have been to New York several times, I'd never been to Brooklyn. I know, how can that be? Well, I made up for it on Sunday by exploring as much as possible. Lauren and I had breakfast at a great diner/bar on the edge of Cobble Hill called Gravy.
Very hip, but the service was super friendly, and we managed to get a table right away. I had this crazy plate of goodness that they called The Cowboy Breakfast: skillet cornbread topped with BBQ beans, sweet corn (actual, real corn from the cob!), sweet chorizo and eggs, over medium. All of this was topped with fresh pico de gallo. This was so yummy I'm still thinking about it, although I only managed to eat about a quarter of the serving. In true New York fashion, the coffee was terrible. :)
Later on, as I explored Park Slope I had better coffee at The Red Horse Cafe when I met a couple of friends of mine there. These Seattle-Brooklyn transplants showed me around their new neighborhood--I loved the feel of the tree-lined streets and the business district had a ton of cute shops. We stopped into several, including the Community Book Store (a sweet little book store with a leafy, cobbled patio out back) and Sweet Melissa (couldn't resist buying my assistant Melissa a little treat here).
That night we ate at Bar Tabac, which is a short walk from the Brooklyn Marriott. The food was straightforward French bistro fare. The table shared a chilled rose, and several small plates including a selection of charcuterie and several different brochette. All in all, pretty tasty. While some ended the meal with dessert, I opted for an Amaretto on ice, which was the perfect, light finish.
My New York eating spree closed with a couple of stand-out places. I met some friends for drinks at Pacifico. The pitchers of margaritas were delicious and deadly! The next morning it took breakfast at Sarabeth's on Central Park South to fully recover. Now, this place is pretty well known in New York, and I might not normally write about it, but the food was really good. I ordered a smoked salmon scramble and I was surprised at how perfectly the eggs were cooked. I was also pleasantly surprised by the reasonable prices. And the coffee--it was pretty darn good too. (Now if only they would spread their secret to the other coffee shops in town!) It was a great way to end my trip. I hopped back on the train to Brooklyn, grabbed my luggage and co-workers and we made our way to Newark, and home to Seattle.

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the perfect balance