Food is such a powerful force in my life. Long wine-filled dinners make me the happiest, followed closely by a batch of homemade cookies (I recently made a batch laced with cinnamon and packed with white chocolate chips, hot daaayum, these were ridiculous).
Now, I work in restaurant PR, at honestly, the best firm ever, and am constantly surrounded by the best chefs, eating at the best restaurants and every day there is some kinda of goodie in my line of sight. If I'm not eating, I am reading about food. If I'm not reading about food, I'm writing about food. Until recently, I kind of let myself just go with it, but have recently decided to pull back a bit harder on my metaphorical reigns and strive to strike some balance.
When I started this blog, I wanted to review restaurants, to practice writing, to eat with purpose. Now, I will aim to share my abundance of food knowledge while keeping the theme of balance in mind. So deep, I know, but it's really how I have to roll.
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The first post is always the hardest. After two years of eating my way up, down, across and through New York City (and some other places I've traveled) it's hard to pick what to share. I guess I will start with this past Saturday.
As of recently, I have decided to eat incredibly well when I am not eating somewhere new or somewhere I love. I can cook myself some great healthy meals, and for breakfast and lunch, I just have to skip the delivery and lock. it. up.
So to sum it up, breakfast: lean protein, fruit; lunch: lean protein, vegetables: snacks: protein; dinner: this is where things get fun. Weekends are an exception. You'll see.
My trainer would rather I had a big lunch, but sometimes he just does not get me. I can't go to The Spotted Pig for lunch. I cannot get barbecue for lunch, Mikey!
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After rave reviews from
Pete Wells of The New York Times and many other trusted food reviewers, I gathered my crew of college besties of the male variety and headed to Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria (53 Great Jones Street) for brunch. Upon arrival, I was immediately taken by the displays of jams, cheeses, oils, pastas and more. The place is gorgeous. A solid 45% of the meal was spent discussing how "sick" it would be if we could have the place as an apartment.
Breakfast ended at 11am (honestly figured, but I apologized to my crew) and we sat down with our lunch menus. Immediately asked for three bloody mary's, but they don't have tomato juice. Weird, but forgivable.
The bread arrives and it is fucking outstanding. Like, super duper flaky bread, insanely rich olive oil and flaky sea salt in a finger bowl. Il Buco nails the bread. It's baked on premises and it was perfect. (So here's an example of this balance thing, I totally ate the bread)
We ordered as a table: ricotta with beets, grapefruit and pistachios, some prosciutto, salami, crispy artichokes. Ricotta was amazing, meats were great, but like, meats are always great. I don't like fried food, and the artichokes tasted like fried artichokes, so no thanks.
Then we ordered baked eggs with bottarga. There's a bottarga sandwich at The John Dory Oyster Bar (all April Bloomfield references are totally biased and will be common) that is out of control. Made on this thin flatbread with the smoothest butter. Perfectly balanced. This bottarga was SO salty and was just bizarre shaved on top of the eggs. Moving on. We ordered bucatini cacio e pepe and the short rib panino.
The pasta was ridiculous. Bucatini are those noodles that are like super thick spaghetti, SO good. I don't even love black pepper, but this was buttery and toothsome (yeah, I did) and just great. Then came the short rib sandwich. This place has gotten rave reviews because of their sandwiches and the waitress recommended this one wholeheartedly. It arrived and by the looks of it, I was not into it. It just looked hard. Like, the bread was going to be too crunchy and the short rib was going to be too thick and chewy. Matt took a bite and full-mouthed exclaimed, "holy shit!" Then Daniel (side note: Daniel is such a tough critic) starts freaking out that it's the best sandwich he's ever had.
I take a bite and am completely surprised by how soft the entire thing is. A huge slab of short rib, tangy blue cheese, caramelized onions and again with the bread. It was so soft but offered that essential crunch. Ugh, wow, perfection. Until we got that sandwich, the restaurant was good, if nothing but a gorgeous place to gather with your friends without bloody marys. But after that bite, wow. Totally recommending it to everyone I come across. So yeah, go. Go and get that short rib panino.
After lunch, my friend Jon and I walked all around the city (specifically to pick up my freshly groomed doggy) and upon getting back to my apartment, put on exercise clothes and blasted music (Girltalk), did a kajillion squats, lunges, crunches and jumping jacks. See, balance!
