New York, part 2

I can't believe that I didn't write about the food in New York. Everywhere we went we had great meals. We ate at cafe restaurants for lunches. We did have bagels and lox. And the bagels were better in New York than in our local bagel shop. I would say that they are lighter than what I'm used to.

The first night we ate at Fleur de Sel. I told my dh that I wanted to eat in a restaurant that we don't have around here. And we have no French restaurants around here. We opted for the tasting menu which was a 6 course meal with 6 different kinds of wine that were matched for the food. It was a blast. They would bring out the wine, tell us about it and why it is paired with the food and then they would bring out the food. All of it was so artfully displayed. I wish I had been able (and brave enough) to take pictures. Here are a couple of items that we enjoyed: Goat Cheese and Artichoke Ravoli with Beet Dijon Reduction, Country Squab with polenta, Blueberry soup with Lemon Yogurt Sorbet.

The second night we went to Olive's. My dh had been to one in DC and liked the food. Plus he knew that they have seats up near the chef's workstation and that you could sit up there and watch the chefs cook the meals. He got that for us and it was a fantastic evening. We were amazed at the speed of the chefs and how fast they worked. We got to talk to them as they worked. We must have asked the right questions or shown enough interest because we kept getting food that we hadn't ordered. By the time the meal was over, we counted up 5 things that had just appeared but were not on the bill. Here we had fried oysters wrapped in proscutto, duck with turnip puree and a duck's egg on hash, pan roasted sea scallops with a golden raisin glaze, veal agnolotti (the chef's specialty), and 4 different kinds of sorbet (cantelope, lychee, passion fruit, and blood orange). We found out that the chef who talked the most to us was the Executive Chef! He was fun and I am sure was responsible for all the extras we received. It was a dinner to be long remembered.