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.

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.