Bettola’s story is very unique. Giga Leszay, the long-time manager, was in need of a chef. Chef Vlado Kolenic, the rockstar that left Czechoslavakia for the US in 1979, discovered a love for global cuisine while touring around the world with his band TAKTICI. Giga and Vlado met on a ski trip when one of Giga’s friends recognized Vlado from the band. The two became friends and took ownership of Bettola in May 2016.
Vlado incorporates the influences and techniques he cultivated on his travels as a musician to create the progressive dishes at Bettola.
Vlado’s love of music and food comes together on Sundays with a Beatles Brunch, during which music by The Beatles plays, and dishes are named after band members and songs. Bettola also offers a late-night happy hour, nightly, from 10 p.m.-11 p.m. Occasionally there is even live music by Chef Vlado himself at the piano. And starting soon, you can experience their movie nights, where pizza is just $10 and drinks are just $5, and you get to watch a movie for free on their TV.
It’s a really fun joint. The restaurant features a beautiful and rustic wood-burning oven that’s used for signature pizzas and some special dishes. The interior is cozy yet spacious, with a majority of seating being four-tops.
We sat down to enjoy our meal with two glasses of wine; a Malbec and a Montepulciano. Bettola has a sommelier who comes in twice per week, so the selection is curated by a professional.
We tried two apps. First was the oven roasted eggplant Napoleon.
The cheese blistered up to a nice crisp in that gorgeous wood oven, and the tomatoes shriveled to a soft and juicy compliment. The best bits of the eggplant were the slices that had developed a really great char in the oven.
The meatballs were very tasty.
The sauce really popped here, and with a portion size of three you can almost just grab a salad first and get this as an entree.
Just ask for extra bread for sopping up that yummy sauce.
I was intrigued by the Fantastico entree. It’s sliced filet mignon, cooked with 17 spices, and served on a bed of fettuccine and mushrooms.
All pastas are made in house, and that fettuccine was the star of the show in this dish.
I’d definitely try some other pasta dishes here. In fact, there are daily specials that constantly change, so you can try something new and unique every time you dine.
Where Chef Vlado really shines, though, is when he is messing around with your taste buds. His global travels have exposed him to lots of interesting flavors and dishes, and he’s used that experience to develop a host of his own recipes. I suppose you can call a dish like Shrimp Prosecco an “Italian Fusion.”
With elements of middle eastern and Thai cuisine, this dish really pops. There’s a coconut milk and Prosecco base in the sauce that almost acts like a curry, and the Israeli cous cous is mixed with zucchini and carrots. The cook on the butterflied shrimp was perfect as well; so tender and flavorful.
For dessert, we had a bread pudding that happened to be made with focaccia bread! But that’s not where the fun ended. It was topped with sliced green apple, garnished with sliced dates, and dressed with a whisky cream sauce. Really unique.
Note: I was invited to dine as a guest of this establishment and received a complimentary meal. This was not in exchange for a positive review; all opinions expressed are my own.
Little Frog is a new French bistro that just opened up a few months ago on East 86th street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. I came here with a bunch of food enthusiasts and bloggers for a press dinner. Here’s what we tried:
House Bread:
This flatbread comes nicely packaged and warm inside of a paper bag with the Little Frog logo stamped on it.
Lamb Meatballs:
It may not strike you as a particularly French item, but lamb meatballs here are served with a dollop of labneh (a Lebanese style of cream cheese) and a host of Mediterranean spices, paying tribute to the old French colonies in North Africa, no doubt.
It’s tough to compete with Mom’s homemade meatballs, but these were tasty nonetheless.
Duck Liver Foie Gras:
Beautiful and delicious. Super smooth texture, nice and velvety. If you like this sort of thing, please get it. This was my favorite app.
Pork Belly:
Can’t go wrong here. The thick slices of tender, braised bacon sit on a bed of delicious lentils. This is a winner, so I shot it twice.
Grilled Octopus:
I’ve had more tender tentacle in my day, but that doesn’t mean that this was tough by any means. The dressing was perfect and the flavors really popped.
Salmon Tartare:
This is served with lemon sabayon and capers, but it sits on a bed of crispy quinoa that really adds an awesome textural element to the dish. It stands out as a really great app.
Beets & Kale:
This salad was simple and tasty. Far be it from me, the meat guy, to praise a salad, but this hit the spot after dipping into some of the more meaty apps earlier.
Okay now onward to the entrees. We started with this incredible duck flambe.
This is one of the better duck dishes I’ve had. The meat was super tender and tasty, and the skin remained crisp and flavorful, with all fat rendered out nicely.
The steak au poivre is a top sirloin cut that’s smothered with peppercorns and then topped with gravy. Ours was cooked to about medium, but it still remained very juicy from the gravy. Also, the tenderness of the cut surprised me; I’m usually apprehensive about top sirloin, but this was good stuff. 7/10.
The Coq Au Vin was a bit dry at the outer edges, but the tenderness and juiciness of the inner meat made up for it in spades.
A few of us claimed that this was the best entree of the night, though the others were ready to throw down in a pitched battle to defend the duck.
If you’re still hungry, get the ice cream sundae for multiple diners. It comes served in a massive bowl, complete with a lit sparkler shooting out the top. I took this shot after the sparkler was removed:
UPDATE 9/28/17
Filet Mignon: 9/10
Froggy Burger: So good!
Salmon Tartare: great crunch and texture from the crispy quinoa.
The sriracha sauce market is completely dominated by the very popular and much-loved Huy Fong sauce. It’s a staple on the table at any stateside Vietnamese restaurant, and it is fast becoming as household-common as ketchup in the US.
Many companies have tried to jump on the sriracha bandwagon to produce this particular style of hot sauce, desperately trying to compete with the monopoly that Huy Fong enjoys. Most are a miserable failure, and many are blatantly bordering on trademark infringement with the use of roosters and other shit that’s really similar to Huy Fong’s logo, look and bottle style.
Fix is not one of those competitors. They have embraced their own bottle style and logo. But more importantly, they have created a taste that rivals Huy Fong, if not matches it completely.
This stuff is good. It has a pleasing taste, with a good, strong, lingering heat. It’s not too salty or garlicky, and the bottle style is great because the sauce doesn’t get gunked up in the nozzle the way it does with Huy Fong. Fix’s wider opening allows for easier, non-squirt bottle pouring. The wider dispenser is welcomed, too, because we all love to douse our food with this shit. But the cool thing is that it simultaneously solves the problem of getting rid of the sauce crud build up that is so common with Huy Fong.
One could even go so far as to say that it “FIXes” the problems that consumers have with Huy Fong. Get it? Wow. I’m good.
Finally, another benefit you get with Fix is the fact that their stuff is made with organic peppers, without artificial ingredients and without processed foods. You can count the ingredients on one hand! Not that it matters to me, because I don’t care about that stuff… but like I said, the flavor is on point, so if this stuff matters to you, then Fix is a product upon which you should keep your eyes.
In any case, I recommend this product if you’re looking to avoid the Huy Fong price surge that’s been happening, or if, like me, you aren’t a big fan of the Huy Fong bottle style and dispenser. You can get your fix with Fix. Hayooooo!
My wife and I came here for a special preview dinner that was hosted for friends, family and influencers on the night before the official opening. I really enjoyed the meal, and I plan on coming back again soon to try more of their steak selections.
Flavor: 9
My wife and I split the cote de boeuf for two.
This massive tomahawk rib eye is 36oz and comes with some nice roasted marrow bones and a bordelaise sauce.
The steak comes out pre-sliced and ready to rock, served in a beautiful pan, atop a bed of roasted veggies.
The steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, it was well-rested before slicing, and it had a good crust on the outside.
Okay I took a shitload of photos of this thing… My wife said she ate a few slices that had a grainy texture. I didn’t notice it, so I pretty much enjoyed it immensely. Even the fat was really soft and edible. Like a beefy Jell-O. We also carved off the awesome crispy meat that sits along the rib, which was spectacular.
On a second visit, however, this wasn’t quite as good. The meat lacked seasoning (as did several items that night – maybe they ran out of salt or something), and when tasted side-by-side with the other meat items we tried, it just didn’t hold up. 7/10.
The strip steak frites, however, was absolutely delicious.
This one was seasoned well, in fact it was almost too salty, but I didn’t mind.
No waste, all pink, great sauce and peppercorn flavor. 9/10.
Their bone in strip was slightly overcooked and dry when I tried, but it still had great flavor. 7/10.
The filet mignon was also a nice 9/10. It would have been a 10 if they didn’t go slightly over on one end, but ver all it was really juicy and nicely seasoned.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
Most of the cuts here are dry-aged, but there is no indication on the menu about how long they are aged.
It could be that they age them in house, continuously, as there seemed to be a good amount of space and massive stainless steel appliances.
There are two types of strip, a filet mignon, a chateaubriand for two, a hanger steak and a cote de boeuf rib eye for two on the menu. They lack a proper porterhouse, but this is a fun menu because there are plenty of other meats to choose from as well.
Portion Size & Plating: 10
Portions here are massive. I suspect the sizes of some of these items may come down a bit after they get on track in the kitchen, but every dish we tried was large. As for plating, you can see how beautiful the pan of steak looked above.
Price: 10
The menu prices are pretty normal here, and given that the portion sizes are all generous, I had to conclude that you get a good value for your money here. As such, I will leave this scored at 10/10 until I visit again for a better perspective on the pricing.
Bar: 10
The bar is a beautiful and impressive stretch along the side wall, adorned with absinthe drinking tools and proper glasses for enjoying the spirit.
They offered just a pair of signature cocktails, which I imagine will change often since one was overly summer-themed, for some reason, and both were made with absinthe. But the bartenders definitely know what they’re doing. They mix a mean old fashioned.
Specials and Other Meats: 10
The non-beef selection is pretty great here. Well, there’s veal too, which is baby beef: veal porterhouse, if that’s your thing. And there’s tripe too; alterna-beef! There’s also a rack of venison, which was amazing.
They first coat it in honey, and then crust it with mustard, breadcrumbs and garlic before searing.
And finally, there’s duck, chicken, and even some rabbit in a pasta dish. This lacked seasoning but the meat was tasty and tender. Also the pasta was cooked perfectly.
I also tried the lamb shank with cous cous, which was a new addition to the menu from my last visit. This, too, needed a hit of salt, but the meat was spectacular.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
We only tried apps and sides on the first visit. Since the place was pretty slammed with their friends and family extravaganza, we figured we would clear out before dessert so that some other people could get a seat to eat. Here’s what we tried:
Blood Sausage – not everyone’s cup of tea, I acknowledge that. But this was one of the best versions I’ve had. There was no grainy, mealy texture to it, and no overly iron-flavored bites involved. A few spots contained some chew, but nothing repulsive.
The serving size was massive, and it was plated with roasted apples and a potato puree. If you split a salad with your dinner-mate, this could easily be ordered as an entree.
Steak Tartare – I love meat, so the idea was to try as many meat items as possible before ordering a meat entree. This tartare was great, and also a very big serving size. In fact, it was so big that it really could have used three quail eggs, if not a full chicken egg.
The texture was smooth without being too fine, and it had a good pop of flavor from the capers and herbs within.
Our sides unfortunately came AFTER our entree, but to be honest we didn’t mind. The table would have been a bit crowded with everything on it, and my wife and I actually felt a little bad for how slammed the staff was for such a massive preview night with so many guests piling into the dining room all at once.
Fries – Hands down the best French fries I’ve ever eaten. Unreal. I mean, crispy outside, and like mashed potatoes inside. Perfectly seasoned as well. They just needed a mayo or something for dipping.
Creamed Spinach – Full, sauteed leaf spinach that’s really just served with a cream sauce at the bottom, to be mixed up with the spinach. Not bad. I’ve had better, but this was certainly not a bad item.
We tried a few other sides on a second visit. Frisee salad with egg and bacon. Very French and very good.
French onion soup:
Mussels with bacon. A very nice creamy sauce was going on here too. Great with bread.
Fois gras pate. Incredibly smooth.
Ratatouille:
Escargot. These are not served in the shell, but each divot on the plate has two snails within, so looks are deceiving on this:
Tuna Tartare:
Profiteroles:
Chocolate mousse cup:
Crepes Suzette:
Seafood Selection: 8
You are dining at a place where the name, in French, means Butcher. Why would you even consider seafood as a possibility? If, for some fucking retarded reason, you’re considering eating something from the sea here as an entree, they offer halibut, trout and salmon. Since I didn’t try any, I can’t really comment.
Service: 10
Since this was a preview event that was incredibly swamped, you shouldn’t rely on the numbers here. We experienced a few missteps, but nothing that we didn’t expect given how packed it was. We had very slow service, and sides coming out after the entree. Some people, however, had some horrendous issues, like never getting their food. I’ll give this place a chance to officially open and sort itself out for a few weeks before I come back and give it an official score. For now I’ll stick with a general 7/10 as a place holder.
Oh yeah… the table bread comes with both meat and veggies; that’s pretty amazing. A slice of country ham with artichoke heart, pickled eggplant and bread:
On my third visit, these things didn’t make it out to the table. Service had improved a bit, but there were still a few minor missteps, like not bringing a spoon out for the soup, or not bringing condiments out for the burger and fries. Not a big deal though.
Ambiance: 10
What an amazing space. Wow. I mean, my photos didn’t do it justice, so I passed on sharing them here. But the place is located at the old Garage Bar spot, where you have 20ft wood-beamed ceilings overhead and a skylight. Also, the decor they went with is astoundingly gorgeous.
BURGER REVIEW
They offer a Pat LaFrieda dry-aged burger that’s topped with melted gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce and tomato. At $29 it’s a bit pricey, but the patty is thick and tasty.
It comes with fries, so that’s a plus. The only negative was that my bottom bun sort of sogged up and fell apart. Maybe a slick of mayo on there would help create a vapor barrier on the bun.
LAFRIEDA PARTNERSHIP
Boucherie partnered with LaFrieda to offer special “cut of the week” steaks that will change up bi-weekly. I was invited in to try them out and shoot photos. Since there aren’t sticking on the menu for good, I’m not including them in my official cuts pages. I am, however, going to score them out of 10 points for you based on flavor.
Round 1: Snake River farms 12oz wagyu sirloin. 9/10
Round 2: 120 day dry-aged bone in strip steak. 9/10
The concept behind Bespoke Kitchen is a totally custom dining experience that’s different every time. The idea is simple: aside from about a dozen starter items, you choose from four proteins and whether you want your protein to have rich or light flavors. The alternative is to leave the entree completely up to the chefs with a secret protein. There are several chefs, too, by the way. All have different culinary backgrounds, but all are incredibly talented and well-experienced.
When I was here for an influencer event via their PR group, NYC Restaurant, organized by The Dishelin Guide, the available proteins were rib eye, branzino, sea bass or duck. The secret protein turned out to be lamb on this night, but I didn’t get to try any. It did look beautiful though:
Let me get back to the starters though. We tried a bunch, so I will just fire them off with some commentary to go with each.
STARTERS
Diver Scallops:
These were pretty good. They were halved scallops served atop a bed of spaghetti squash, hen of the woods mushrooms and pine nuts. The outside was seared and caramelized just right, leaving the meat supple and juicy inside.
Bacon Tasting:
Thick cut belly, maple bacon and lamb bacon graced this beautiful natural wood platter of pork. My favorite was the lamb, not only because it is delicious but because it is a rare gem to find on any menu here in the city.
Bacon Dumplings:
Lobster cocktail:
Why the fuck not? These were like cheddar and bacon Totino’s pizza rolls, only elevated and in a nicer wrapper.
Mixed Ceviche:
Light and refreshing, this bowl contained fluke, octopus and shrimp, with a side of sweet potato chips.
Tuna tartare:
Short Rib Gnocchi:
The gnocchi were light but with a crispy coating on them, and the short rib was rich and extremely flavorful. Big fan of this dish.
Grilled Octopus:
This was really well executed. The tentacle was very tender, and the squid ink balsamic on the plate was perfect for smearing onto the purple potatoes. Check out my buddy Ben’s awesome shot of it:
I ended up going back another time and shooting this again. Check it:
ENTREES
Each protein comes as a fully composed meal, complete with a starch and a veggie. Naturally, I went with the rib eye. I also tried some of the duck.
The rib eye was really juicy and succulent, with lots of nice beefy flavor. While there wasn’t much cap present, the eye was delicious. I score it at a nice 8/10. Two other rib eyes were ordered in our group, and each one was plated differently, with different veggies. One even had a poached egg on top!
But check out this duck!
Beautiful tuna plating.
The fat could have used some better rendering, to get that rubbery quality out completely, but that is a tough challenge to accomplish on a breast while still maintaining a good medium rare cook temperature. I was fine with trimming the fat away and munching on that beautiful pink breast meat.
DESSERT
Burrata Cheesecake:
This delight is made in house, which is very impressive being it is a burrata cheese. It was super creamy and light, served with graham cracker crumble and an apple caramel. It was simple and delicious.
Cinnamon Bun:
This was really tasty, and my favorite of the desserts. It was a soft cake inside, some good crisp outside, and lots of ooey gooey dolce de leche glaze on top.
Chocolate Pudding:
This lacked sweetness, and almost tasted as if it was sugarless or “diet” – not fake sugar, but NO sugar, or LOW sugar. I didn’t mind so much, since I don’t have a huge sweet tooth to begin with, but some other diners expressed dissatisfaction. I did get that cocoa flavor from it, though, and the texture was nice and smooth.
Butternut Squash Ice Cream:
This was really interesting, and at first I didn’t think I’d like it, based on the description. Imagine candied yams in an ice cream format, but without that horrible starchy texture. It was similar to that flavor. I was oddly attracted to this, so I just kept going back to it over and over. That must mean it was a success.
I definitely recommend coming to this joint. Every meal you eat here will be different, even if you and your table-mates order the same exact thing at the same exact time. It’s kind of fun, new, exciting and adventurous. I’m happy to see something unique like this in NYC.
I was recently invited to the French Cheese Board by Peachonomics and The Baddish Group for a cheese tasting. I ended u learning a lot about cheeses, and since we were eating all cow’s milk cheeses, I figured it was worth a write-up on here.
I had no idea that certain cheeses were meant to be cut and eaten in specific ways depending on their shape and size. Check out these charts:
Pretty interesting. And this chart of cow breeds shows which cheeses come from which cows:
What I found interesting is that, much like our Beef Check-Off system here in the States, Cheeses of Europe acts as a marketing tool and advocacy arm of the cheese industry across the pond. They organized this event as a way to educate foodies in NYC about French cheeses. I’m actually looking forward to learning more about cow’s milk cheeses. Maybe one of these days I’ll organize a beef and cheese pairing event, as I’m sure certain cuts of beef or methods of preparation would pair nicely with certain cheeses.
Not only does the French Cheese Board sell cheese, but it also acts as an art gallery and food lab as well, where students can intern and learn about cheese.
We tried a bunch of really diverse cheeses. My two favorites were the Brillat Savarin and Pont I Eveque. Both were softer and creamier than Brie.
They served us some nice wines that went with the cheeses, and even put together some plated cheese hors d’oeuvres.
I definitely recommend hitting this spot to try out some cheeses. The prices are very reasonable.
THE FRENCH CHEESE BOARD
41 Spring St
New York, NY 10012
I’m going to use this product review and press event post as a vehicle to deliver unto my readers a comprehensive guide to truffles. Let me begin with the education portion of this post.
What Are Truffles?
You’re probably all somewhat familiar with truffles. You occasionally see them on menus as expensive add-ons to your pasta dishes, and you may see “truffle fries” offered at a higher price than regular French fries at certain restaurants. Shavings per ounce can be quite pricey, especially for white truffles.
But what exactly is a truffle? It’s a fungus. It’s a tuber-like fungus that grows along the roots of certain trees, like oak, hazelnut and chestnut. They are incredibly aromatic, with an intensely concentrated earthy flavor profile that’s truly unlike anything you’ve ever tasted or smelled before.
Some people say they’re similar to mushrooms, but that’s like saying Kraft mac and cheese powder packets taste similar to piave vecchio. Not even the same ballpark. Similar to dry aged beef, fermented foods, or smoked and/or aged cheeses, truffles offer that same kind of “umami” sensation for your taste buds.
Size & Shape
They typically range in size from something like a walnut to about the size of a softball. They get to market size overnight, growing very fast, as do other members of the fungi kingdom. However it may take some time for the spore to first germinate properly.
But just like the saying goes for dicks, “size doesn’t matter.” The same flavors exist in small or large truffles. But preference does matter (just like dicks, I would imagine). The smaller truffles are just as good in terms of quality as the larger ones. They’ll still get you off. Yet, kind of like a director’s preference for big dicks in porn, some restaurants want larger, more uniform shaped truffles so that their shavings look prettier on the plate.
Speaking of which, their shape varies based on the soil in which they grow. Soft, loose soil allows the truffle to grow and expand mostly unhindered into a more spherical shape, while harder, rocky soil will result in more odd-shaped, lumpy truffles.
Kinds of Truffles
There are (generally) four varieties of truffle: white, black summer, black winter, and bianchetto.
As you can see from above, there are specific seasons for harvesting each type of truffle (in Italy, that is). The neat thing is that some black truffles are grown in Australia as well, so we have access to them in the reverse seasons as well.
Each style of truffle is suited for its own unique purposes. For example, white truffles are best for shaving directly onto freshly cooked food, like eggs and pasta. Black truffles are better suited for grating and incorporating into sauces. If you see black truffles being offered for sale, per ounce, shaved directly onto a food item, my advice is to skip it. That’s not the ideal way to enjoy a black truffle, and you may not even taste anything.
Ripeness & Storage
The best way to tell if a truffle is good is to feel it and smell it. They should be firm, but not rock solid, and definitely not mushy. The aroma should be very powerful and fill your nose with an abundance of robust earthiness. In fact it is said that some can detect up to 120 different flavors and aromas from a fresh truffle.
Here, you can see how the degradation process occurs as a truffle goes from good, fresh and ripe to bad:
As a truffle begins to go bad, less of those invigorating aromas come through, the truffle gets spongier, and it emits a more ammonia-like scent. Eventually a white truffle will turn more brown, as well.
The shelf-life for a fresh truffle varies from 7-10 days for white truffles, to 15-20 days for black. A truffle is about 90% water, and it will lose 3-5% of its moisture per day, so that’s why it’s so important to use them while they’re fresh. The intense, characteristic flavors and aromas come from the moisture content within the truffle.
Lots of times you see truffles stored in a box filled with rice. This isn’t a good idea, unless your goal is to infuse the rice with the flavor of truffle. The dry rice will leech out all the moisture, and thus the flavor, from the truffle. My opinion: that’s a dumb move, even if your goal is to infuse the rice. Why? Because rice dishes will never sell for or be worth an amount that’s high enough to cover the cost of the truffle you just wasted by storing it that way.
The best way to store a truffle is to individually wrap each in a paper towel, somewhere cool. It should also be put into a wooden box or a glass mason jar; not plastic, as plastic doesn’t breathe the same way. Excess humidity can build up in plastic and ruin the truffle.
Where Do They Come From?
In Italy, truffles can be found in a variety of locations, as Italian geography is ideal for producing the right weather conditions that result in truffle growth.
The coveted white truffles are highly sought after when they come from the Alba, Piedmont area in the northwest, which is similar to our Napa Valley. However the demand for certain wines from that region (Barolo, Barbaresco) has created a situation where the land is being altered by vintners, with trees being removed to make way for grape vines, and chemicals being used in the soil to aid in the grape-growing process. Trees are necessary for the truffles to grow, so Alba truffles are very rare indeed. In fact, less than 3% of the truffles on the market hail from Alba, and most of the truffles from that region stay local. So be aware, if you happen to see a menu flaunting that the truffles are from Alba: it is likely a lie.
Black truffles can be “seeded” with spores and grown in other locations that have the right climate and trees, but white truffles can not. Therefore, white truffles tend to be a fuckload more expensive, as they are much more rare and localized. Think $1,000/lb.
In Italy, much of the land where truffles are hunted is public access, meaning anyone can come by (licensed truffle hunters, typically) and pick up a truffle. In other places, like Australia or the USA, the land can be owned outright so no one else can lawfully snatch up any truffles that might be growing on your tree roots.
Urbani Truffles
Now that you’ve gotten a good first lesson on truffles, I guess I can begin the product and press review portion of the post.
Urbani Truffles began in 1852 and now supplies 70% of the global market with their truffles.
Urbani Truffles are in the hands of NYC restaurateurs within 36 hours of being dug up by their network of truffle hunters in Italy. Amazing! Truffle hunters go out with their trained sniffing dogs at night, to minimize noise and distractions for the dogs. The next morning, any truffles that were gathered are cleaned and sent to the market or shipped out on airplanes all over the world. Cleaning just requires getting the dirt and blemishes off (like a potato). If needed, some light brushing is done, but cleaners are careful to avoid direct contact with water, as that can harm the truffle.
Take a look at this Urbani video below, which will help you visualize the entire process.
You probably noticed some truffle products in there, like oils and canned goods. Whatever Urbani doesn’t think is fit for the fresh market, they use to create various other products.
Like their fresh truffles, these products are all top notch quality. They never use chemicals in their products, so everything is all natural. Chemicals actually taint the flavor of truffle products, and deliver too much truffle flavor and aroma up front.
All of Urabni’s truffle products will deliver a delayed and longer lasting truffle flavor, due to their rejection of chemicals in the production process.
I had the pleasure of sampling both their fresh truffles and some of the products they sell when I was invited to their truffle lab on West End Avenue.
As a matter of fact, I was there while a presentation was being given to six Art Institute / International Culinary School students who were selected as the top of their classes to learn about truffles and to practice cooking with them. Talk about having a great lunch!
First, we experienced one of the most simple and satisfying ways to enjoy fresh white truffles: shaved directly onto a fried egg.
According to Vittorio, the VP of Urbani Truffles, salt should be sprinkled on after the truffles are shaved onto the egg. Pepper can take away from the truffle flavor and aroma, so skip that.
Truffle oil goes really nicely with flatbread and pizza. This one we tried really popped, making something as boring as zucchini really exciting for a change.
We also sampled one of the canned truffle products: white truffle with porcini mushrooms. This was added to a pan of sauteed shallots and butter to make a sauce, which went on top of some polenta.
This was delicious, and I can totally see this being used to spike something like gravy or even to make a sauce for the top of a filet mignon. Really flavorful – best thing I ever ate from a can.
Another item I tried was their truffle mnustard. I plan to feature this in some recipes in the future, as I think it would be an excellent addition on a cold cut sandwich or a burger.
Finally, we tried some truffle cream cheese spread as well. This, too, was plopped onto some sauteed polenta. I can’t imagine how amazing this would be on lox.
If you’ve got room in your budget for a fresh truffle, I say go for it. Urbani delivers the freshest product I have ever experienced, and they supply big dog restaurants like French Laundry and Del Posto. Whipe up some homemade pasta, cook it, throw the pasta in a pan with some butter, fry a sunny side up egg for the top of the pasta, and shave that delicious truffle right onto it. Perfection.
But even if a fresh truffle isn’t on your to-do list, then I highly recommend picking up some of Urbani’s other products and experimenting with truffle in your own recipes that way. You can’t go wrong. Every product is amazing.
I had the pleasure of attending an Instagram influencer event at Handcraft last night, and I have to say: I was super impressed with everything I drank and ate. This place really knows their stuff.
The meal started with some buffalo style deviled eggs, which were absolutely delicious.
They had the same flavor profile you get from good spicy chicken wings, with a pop of hot sauce.
Then came our first cocktail: Tokyo Drift. This was made with gin, sake, cucumber, lemon and fizz.
It was really refreshing and slammable, which was nice to pair with the next part of the meal: Handcraft Nachos.
These are tots, topped with corn, bean chili, pico de gallo, guacamole, chipotle sour cream and cheese sauce. These “totchos” were absolutely fantastic. You definitely need to start your meal with these when you come here.
Next up on cocktails was the Liquid Lunch: watermelon and strawberry gin, basil, balsamic vinegar and lime.
This baby was like drinking a salad! So savory yet still with a nice pop of sweetness. I loved it.
We drank that with a killer fried chicken sandwich.
This is up there with Delaney and Fuku+ in terms of taste and quality. It’s topped with pimento cheese, pickled green tomato and kale, served on focaccia.
The chicken was so tender and juicy inside, and that cheese acted like a sauce to boot. Awesome.
The final cocktail was a Bourbon Punch: bourbon, amaretto, southern comfort, orange and pineapple.
The hard liquor really gets balanced out by the sweetness here, and the fruitiness of the drink went well with the next course: The Game Changer.
This mountain of meat consists of a bison patty and a wild boar patty. Then it gets topped with duck confit, brie and cherry chutney, served neatly on a brioche bun. Amazing. The cherry chutney almost acts like a cranberry sauce, turning this into the perfect Thanksgiving substitute for those of you who despise turkey.
I highly recommend this place, and they have a great beer menu too.
HANDCRAFT KITCHEN & COCKTAILS
367 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10016
The Somerset is a really nice grilled cheese sandwich that’s available at MeltKraft, down in the Turn-Style food hall at Columbus Circle. I got to try this when I was invited to a PR event to promote Turn-Style and all the shops within.
What’s so special about it? Melted gruyere, cured ham, cornichon, pickles and grain mustard. The version pictured here has some added prosciutto, because why the fuck not?
It also pairs up nicely with the tomato soup, which has a nice herbaceous kick to it from the fennel.
MELTKRAFT
TurnStyle Food Hall
1000S 8th Ave
New York, NY 10019
With a name that means “coral,” it’s only fitting that Korali Estiatorio, a neighborhood gem for authentic Greek food on the upper east side, features a variety of fresh seafood fit for the gods.
Owner Gregori Politis hails from Lefkada, in the Ionian Sea. After 20 years in the hospitality business, he now brings the authentic recipes of his childhood to the masses of NYC. Chef Peter Tsaglis headed up prominent New York City kitchens. Peter focuses on seafood, and has a passion for amazing ingredients and flavors. His upbringing and travels across the Greek islands influenced his style of traditional cooking blended with modern and contemporary fare.
The interior was designed with Mykanos in mind, a seaside town on an island of the same name, which is known for its bright white architecture.
The bar is stocked with Greek spirits and wines from rare varietals that are uncommon here in the states, like Assyrtiko and Agiogitiko.
With Greek music playing on the sound system and the invigorating scent of fresh seafood in the air, you really do feel like you are being transported to the Greek Isles.
Okay so let me get to the food… We started with some tzatziki and pita bread. The yogurt this joint uses is so thick, rich and awesome. This had just the right amount of spices and flavorings added, so that our mouths were spared of garlic overload. I really enjoyed this.
In honor of the joint’s focus on seafood, we did not delve into any meats. I know: blasphemy for me! Perhaps next time I will go hard into the lamb dishes, though.
For our meze courses we had grilled octopus and stuffed calamari. The grilled octopus was so tender and perfectly cooked. It came on a bean puree and was seasoned gently with olive oil and lemon, and sprinkled with capers. Really delicious, and probably one of the better octopus dishes I’ve had in a while. And it was a good sized portion, with about two large tentacles chopped up on the plate.
I couldn’t resist ordering the stuffed calamari.
When I was a kid, my family would do the traditional Italian fish dinner for Christmas. My grandparents were the main drivers of that meal, and I would help my grandfather clean all the shrimp, scungili and squid for prep. But my grandma would take the time to make stuffed calamari. She would take the cleaned squid tubes, fill them with a cheese, breadcrumb and meat stuffing, and literally stitch the ends closed with a needle and black thread. Then they went into a skillet for browning on all sides before getting plopped into a low simmering tomato sauce that was filled with crab legs and other shellfish. Before serving, she would pull out the black thread and the calamari would stay pinched closed, holding in the delicious stuffing. It really was a painstaking and amazing effort, and I’ve never seen anything like it since. Until now, until Korali.
This Greek version is stuffed with spinach and feta, but still served in a tomato sauce. Rather than a traditional stewed style Italian red sauce, this one contained mainly sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. It was a really exciting profile of flavors, and this was hands-down my favorite dish of the night. I highly recommend this!
For our entree, we ordered a whole grilled fish for two that was on special: “pink snapper” from the Mediterranean Sea.
The skin was crisp and savory, and the meat was tender, flaky and cooked nicely. It was simply dressed with olive oil, lemon and Greek seasonings, and then topped with capers.
We cleaned this baby off entirely, even busting into the face to get some of that delicious and succulent cheek meat.
This fish for two also came with two sides. We picked garlic sauteed spinach and Greek fries. The fries were crisp and had a nice herb and garlic flavor.
The spinach was sauteed just right, retaining that great “green” flavor without over-wilting the leaves. Also, the garlic was again not overpowering and added just the right amount of flavor to the dish. These guys know what they’re doing in the kitchen!
For dessert, we got to try an assortment of three items: Greek yogurt with honey and berries, baklava and semolina custard in phyllo (Galactoboureco). By far my favorite of the three was that delicious, thick and creamy yogurt again. This sweet version was the perfect way to bookend the meal after starting with the savory tzatziki version at the beginning of the meal.
But the baklava was the best my wife and I have had. Usually this dessert is soaked with honey, and that just kills the texture and flavor of the nuts, making everything too sweet and soft. Not here at Korali! These had a cookie-like crunch to them, and I found myself smearing some of the yogurt onto them to make it a double whammy dessert. So damn good!
Overall this was a really great meal, light and satisfying. This is a great place for the UES neighborhood. I don’t live nearby, but I would definitely go back in a heartbeat.
One thing that really got my attention about this place is that you can pre-order a whole roasted goat every Friday, which is locally sourced from upstate. I will definitely be back for this with my crew from The Carcass Club.
In addition, Korali now offers a prix-fix lunch deal Wednesday through Friday, as well as brunch on weekends, with a choice of starter, entree and dessert.
Note: I was invited to dine as a guest of this establishment and received a complimentary meal. This was not in exchange for a positive review; all opinions expressed are my own.
