Recently in Restaurants Category

Jake and I decided to have a night out to celebrate the reality of actually living here for 3 months.  No more talking about it or planning for it or packing or traveling or setting up.  We're settled.  We've got a car, library cards, a babysitter.  It's not like we're just here for an extended vacation.

Thanks to the intranet at Jake's office, we get loads of reviews and recommendations for places to eat and Eateria de Manon was being raved about last week so we decided to have a date night.  We got polished up, I actually wore a dress, Jake wore a tie and we set off for a romantic night out.

We left the house at 6:30 and after parking and getting cash at the ATM we still had 15 minutes before our 7:00 reservation.  And this restaurant isn't even in our town!  This is what I love about Wellington.  Everything is so close!  Even parking isn't that difficult.  The scenery reminded me of heading out to a 008 concert in San Francisco only it took us once around the block to find a spot rather than an hour of driving around.

A little walk down the alley off of Rue de Riddiford and we stepped in to a cozy, hip place.  7 is apparently early for a reservation as we were seemingly the only people there.  We were seated at a nice little table for two next to the fire place.  Shortly after we sat down, a gentleman in a velvet jacket came over and started roasting himself a marshmallow.  The mantle held a fishbowl full of marshmallows and a beer stein full of skewers for anyone to enjoy.

Looking over the menu I suddenly got the urge to start eating the pages.  I was starving and everything looked so good.  Our meal for the evening went something like this:

We each ordered a "Sultry" which, if I can recall correctly was, plum juice, port and cinnamon.  For food we started with Oven Baked Escargots w/garlic, parsley, butter and parmesan after which complimentary melon (I think canteloupe) sorbet was served.  For our mains Jake chose the Oven Baked Beef Fillet w/goat curd & thyme raviolo & buerre rouge while I enjoyed the Grilled Crispy Half Duck w/lemon braised chicory & Drambuie ginger sauce.  Jake's beef wasn't served with a steak knife but it turns out it was so tender, he didn't need one.  The duck was delicious although not as crispy as I would have hoped.  We split our sides of courgettes, broccoli and gratin potatoes.

After the dessert menu was presented the waitress informed us that the kitchen was a bit backed up and it would be a small wait before she could take our order.  We spent that time debating if we should share one dessert or each have our own. Jake went to the restroom and I got to watch the two chefs in the very small kitchen work through their crunch.  It was intoxicating just listening to music, watching the chefs dance around each other in the little kitchen.  The waitress came around and I ordered a dessert for each of us.  Jake had the Chocolate Decadence Cake w/cream, blueberry ice cream & rum-espresso sauce and I had White Wine Poached Pears w/pecan butterscotch sauce, cream quenelle & brioche ice cream.

I had just been reading David Lebovitz's entries about ice cream making and after eating these two ice creams my interest in ice cream making is peaked.  The blueberry was tart and sweet.  I imagined the brioche ice cream to just be flavored like brioche but it actually had little crumbs of brioche in it.  They had a nutty crunch but with a softer finish.  It was surprisingly good when you think about it being "bread ice cream".

The pace of the restaurant was purposely slow and not in a way that left you feeling in need of anything.  Just perfectly paced for a nice, romantic evening out.  We left feeling spoiled and happy.  It was a very wonderful evening out and I would highly recommend Eateria De Manon.

Sounds like a mouthful. Actually it is!

I was the very happy recipient of a variety pack containing one dozen brownies from Mary Louise Butters Brownies in Austin. The box was so heavy that I guessed before opening it that it was two cookbooks!

I'd never had these brownies before and they were quite a delicacy. Each brownie was individually wrapped and was easily big enough to split with someone else. We actually ended up splitting a couple of them four ways.

Thanks Dawn for the yummy gift!

I'm not sure if westerners are familiar with sheet pizza but it is the only thing that you can get here on the East coast. It's basically made in a cookie sheet so the shape is rectangular and the crust is usually lacking. I had been getting really sick of sheet pizza and had been asking for recommendations on any place that had more traditional pizza. Well thanks to our friend Danny, we finally found a place that makes their pizza in an honest to goodness wood fired oven. Joey's in Endicott has hands down, the best pizza in the Southern Tier. They DO NOT serve sheet pizza. All of their dough is made from scratch and with the wood fired oven it comes out thin, crisp on the bottom and chewy on the crust. In addition to having the best crust in town, they create pizzas that remind me of Amici's from San Rafael. The #8 is a white pizza with garlic, feta, fresh spinach and prosciutto. I can't get enough of it! I have to admit that nightly I debate getting Joey's for dinner. It's probably a good thing they don't deliver. :)

This weekend we went to Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven in Brooklyn, NY. My friend Judy had turned me on to his chocolates a couple Christmases ago. Then Jake renewed my interest by geting me a 50 piece box of chocolates for Valentine's Day last year. Anyhoo, long story short, we decided to visit the Chocolate Factory ourselves. And who better to accompany us than Judy (the pusher), her husband Duncan, and my sister in law/fellow chocoholic Sarah and family.

Sarah and I spent a good deal of time checking out what was available at the shop on the website www.mrchocolate.com and I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to walk out with. We arrived and walked in the little shop to a wave of chocolate aroma. I felt as though they were showering it down on me as I walked through the door. The shop was beautiful and just the right size. Bookshelves along two walls were filled with yummy chocolate items in simple tins tied with orange ribbon. I became so overwhelmed that I just grabbed a cookie and a bag of chocolate disks for my mother in law.

Everyone else got a hot chocolate and my husband was kind enough to share his with me. This hot chocolate was so thick that when we took it out into the freezing air, it literally began to solidify. It was like drinking the best melted chocolate bar you had ever tasted. We sampled the 'Wicked' hot chocolate which has chiles in it for an extra kick. I have to admit I didn't think I would enjoy it really made a difference so subtle but tasty.

After calming down and getting some real food in my stomach, I went back to get all of the items I had intended on purchasing. Chocolate bark with pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts in both dark and milk chocolate, the Peanut Trifecta - Candied peanut clusters covered in dark chocolate, candied peanuts covered in chocolate then rolled in cocoa powder, and my favorite, peanut brittle covered in dark chocolate, a box of 'Wicked' hot chocolate mix, and a small bag of assorted chocolate mendiants each with almond, candied ginger and pistachios. Then to my surprise, my sister in law bought us the 'Chips and Dip' - dark chocolate squares paired with a jar of peanut, almond and hazelnut "dip".

We came home and passed out the gifts to the folks then began eating our way through everything. Jake and I both agree that the bark is by far the best item purchased. The chocolate is pure and the nuts perfectly toasted. Our least favorite would be the peanut clusters. The nuts are not very toasted and the candy falls a little flat.

I made the mistake of watching Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory the night before with my nieces. I think their expectations for the factory were a little high and due to the fact that we went on a Sunday, not much Oompa Loompa action was going on. When I open my chocolate shop, I'll make sure to add a chocolate waterfall of some sort just for disappointing them.

We read a review of this place in the Press & Sun Bulletin and decided to try it out on Monday. We pulled up and it looked a little funky in a thrift shop kind of way. I walked inside and there was a pretty big line. I asked around and there was no waiting list, nor was there an estimate as to how long the wait would be. We decided to try back around 1:30 when the lunch rush would be over.

We came back and got seated within 10 minutes. The dining areas were very clean and had a cool tea room decor with antique baby clothes and portraits hanging. Sophie got to sit in a high chair that looked similar to one my mom had used as a baby.

We had a 2:00 appointment so we asked the waitress if that would be a problem and she said she would get our orders right in. Jake ordered the tomato and bacon quiche with a cup of autumn bisque soup. I ordered the chicken and stuffing soup in a bread bowl. Everything came very quickly and was super tasty. The autumn bisque soup tasted like it had squash, carrots and apple in it with a touch of cinnamon. It was very good and Sophie enjoyed it too! My bread bowl was homemade with a great crusty outside and chewy inside. My soup tasted like the inside of a chicken pot pie and was tasty.

We finished our lunch and decided that we still had time for dessert so we split a raspberry crisp which came with ice cream and real whipped cream on top. It was beyond good. The crisp was very buttery and chewy and the tart raspberries balanced out the sugar. It was sooo good. We are definitely going back to this place.

Friday night we tried out a new restaurant near work called Boca. It's billed as an Argentinian steakhouse, and looked nice enough when we peeked in during construction. Our friends who've been came away pleased, and from what we had heard it's run by the chef from Aqua (neither Brandie nor I have ever been there, but we've heard enough good things about it and always wanted to go.)

Armed with our review we came ready to try the lobster corndogs, fries cooked in duck fat, roast chicken and Gaucho steak. We also were packing some friends (Mark, Julie, Kristen and Tim) and several bottles of wine (actually, it was Mark & Julie's wine, but Sophie had her own, a vintage 05 Similac.)

We had to wait a bit for our table (they seemed busy, but not unreasonably so for a Friday night) then managed to get a great spot outside on the patio. The evening breeze was great, and we were all appreciating the excellent weather.

I tried the corndogs, empanadas and a bit of Mark's iceberg wedge salad. Brandie got the roast chicken and I shared the Gaucho with Mark. All the food was excellent, and made us feel very decadent. Sophie was as usual (knock knock!) very well-behaved and made it nearly to dessert before she started to melt.

We're eager to go back, and can't recommend it enough. Finally some competition for the Buckeye's steaks, and it's on the way home!