kali

I've been gifted with two delectable & spectacular meals in the past month or so. My dilatory nature is well known to All and Sundry (especially Sundry), and alas, I can't even say that I have a firm purpose of amendment.

Still, though they've been long since digested, I wished to record them for posterity before the memory faded altogether. Also, yum!

#1. Lunetta @ http://www.lunetta-ny.com/
We began with fried artichokes with lemon and herbs. I was expecting artichoke hearts, quartered and fried; instead these were chips (in the American sense), cut paper thin with frizzled edges. It was more the suggestion of artichoke, rather than the hearty, tender pieces I was anticipating. To tell you the truth, the dish did such violence to my expectations that I wasn't able to enjoy it quite as much as I probably should have. The pan-seared mushrooms, on the other hand, were possibly among the finest things I have ever put into my mouth - farm grown criminis and other exotic shrooms cooked to tender, rosemary perfection. The arugula salad with parmesan, pinenuts and prosciutto was delicately citrus and spicy - and astringent enough to work as a palate cleanser. Then, we had seared pork belly with trevisano & bean salad. The pork belly was difficult to cut, but once placed on the tongue, the meat was meltingly flavored and utterly rich. Then the linguini with little neck clams and escarole - al dente pasta, in this buttery, rich clam broth, punctuated with little bitter notes of escarole and sweet chunks of tomato. The clams themselves were also excellent. Finally we had espresso and a pistachio cake with olive oil gelato and dark chocolate sauce drizzled on top - one of the best desserts I've ever tasted; the crumbly, moist pistachio cake and creamy, delicate olive oil gelato were the essence of each flavor and yet unexpectedly sweet, while the dark chocolate sauce was rich, and bitter.

The meal was paired beautifully with a Tocai del friuli (Plozner 2005). It was described as wildly aromatic; I didn't quite know what it meant before I sipped it, but I discovered the description was actually quite accurate - it was intense, and somehow both sweet and dry; crisp and fullbodied. A study in contradictions that I would love to drink again.

#2. Prune @ http://www.prunerestaurant.com/
This restaurant was so lovely, I want to go back for each of their sittings: brunch (which they're famous for), lunch (when Chef Gabrielle apparently serves as chef de cuisine) and dinner - again, because the first time kicked some serious ass.

The food at Prune is deceptively simple, and somehow always manages to surprise. We began with bar snacks for an appetizer - deviled eggs and cold marinated grilled beef. The deviled eggs were redolent with mustard and horseradish - even without the expected sprinkle of paprika, they had a definite (and delicious) kick, underneath their undecorated exterior. The beef, just off rare, was garnished with bits of chili pepper, which combined with the sweet and spicy marinade, gave it a nice, slow tingle that sparkled down your throat. Then, for our main entrees, we had a stewed pork shoulder with salsa verde and blade lamb chop grilled with oregano and lemon. The slow cooked chunks of pork literally melted in your mouth; the sauce was rich and spicy, and built with the salsa verde so the taste hit your mouth in layers. The lamb chop shared that characteristic; the flavor of the lamb was accented, again in layers, with the spice and lemon - you could taste each part separately. Alongside, we had warm artichokes, potatoes and green beans with boiled lemons in a brown butter vinaigrette. I was expecting a melange of a dish; instead each individual flavor refined to its absolute essence. Each succulent bite of artichoke heart tasted just like the leaf dipped into melted butter and lemon does - only less hard fought. Each tiny new potato and green bean tasted freshly harvested. For dessert, we had espresso, a grappa torte with wild grapes and a plum crisp with vanilla ice-cream. I'm not a huge fan of torte, thinking it mainly too dry, but when you took a piece of torte into your mouth and bit into it together with a wild, black grape, it brought out the taste of grappa, moistened the torte - and it was condensed cakes and wine. The plum crisp was tart and sweet; the crisp of pecans and oats tasted of cinnamon and cloves; the rich, creamy ice-cream softened it, making me think of wholesome, sweet, childlike things.

D. drank red stripe (an ideal combination with the pork shoulder,) and I drank two of the best kirs I have ever had in the United States.

Thanks to faris_nallaneen and hofnarr for two delightful treats.

I must still blog about the Opera on a Barge in Red Hook (Excellent!) and various other things; hope this...ahem...whets your appetite! Writing this has made me seriously hungry - away to my cupboard I must wend. I'll write again soon*.



*always a relative term.