Sunday, February 11, 2007

Hibernation

I am officially ensconced in hibernation mode. Meaning, given the freezing weather here in Chicago over the last couple of weeks, I've had little desire to do anything other than stay in and watch David Lynch movies, cook, eat, and read.

I did just return from my first trip to New York in calendar year 2007. It was a great trip, foodwise. That being said, I really need to stop eating so much if I plan on fitting in my summer clothes. The best meal of the weekend was at Momofuku Ssam Bar, which I have to say I liked better than the original Momofuku. I'm not sure why, other than we enjoyed talking with the bartender about his favorite dishes, I appreciated the kimchi-infused flavoring in many of the things I tried, and I liked the ambience slightly more. We also ate soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai (yummmm), and I was finally able to try A Voce. I can't wait to try the cheese I bought from Murray's.

OK, sidebar -- Al Gore and Queen Latifah?! Really? And my boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, did oh-so-well.

Okay, back to New York. A Voce was delicious, but I think because I had such high expectations, it was just sort of okay. I really could not get over how odd and almost distasteful the decor was. The service was impeccable and the appetizers delicious, though. We had beet salad and cured salami, he had veal stuffed tortolloni, and I had lamb on risotto with hazelnuts and mint pesto. For dessert, fried bananas with hazelnut ice cream and brownie, and a mocha-hazelnut-chocolate gelato. Muy delicioso. No pictures though, sadly.

I'm too tired to write more.

Addendum -- I forgot to comment on another place we went to: Bar Martignetti. I tried it based on things I'd read about it, such as this, but The New Yorker's review, which of course I can't find online, captures it more accurately. The restaurant appeared to be straight out of a scene from American Psycho, circa 2007. I saw a higher concentration of $200 haircuts, perfect Ralph Lauren ensembles, and cufflinks in a casual setting than I have in any other restaurant or bar. And this was the men! We entertained ourselves by sipping our $14 tequilas and listening to the un-ironic conversations about bears, bulls, IPOs, pharmaceutical stocks, and patent law. We then immediately left for Momofuku Ssam Bar. Certainly, the East Coast frat scene is better than the Midwest frat scene of infantile clothing, Big Ten sports talk, and bad beer drinking, but it was not for me, nonetheless.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

that is great.are you chinese?
你好
my blog is googledex.blogspot.com

4:49 PM CST  

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