Lunch for One: Viet Cafe
Sugar Rush: Chocolate Chunk Smoothie at ABC Elixir Bar
Sugar Rush: Gelato at Borne Confections
Lunch for One: Despaña
Sugar Rush: Lemon Olive Oil Cake and...
...Sicilian Float at One Girl Cookies
Sugar Rush: Lingonberry Soda at Smörgås Chef
TGI Fry-Day: Fries at Bouley Studio
Sugar Rush: Chocolate Bread Pudding at Tate's Bake Shop
Shots from the 8-course "HANA" menu at Kajitsu yesterday evening, dinner with the lovely Kayt.
Kajitsu serves Shojin cuisine, offering a four ($50) or eight ($70) course menu, that changes on a monthly basis. The restaurant is all-vegetarian, though many of the dishes were vegan by default. We just caught the tail end of July. Would be exciting to see how the menu changes as we move to fall and winter.
To start, Frozen Sake Denshin
Chilled Tomato Aspic with Avocado, Fresh Green Peas, Wasabi, and Umadashi Sauce
House-Made Hiyamigu Noodles with...
...Sesame Dipping Sauce, Scallions, Cucumber, and Myoga
Clear Soup with Simmered Watermelon and Shiso Nama-Fu Twists, Junsai Shoots and Shiso
The "main" course, a three-part dish...
Buckwheat Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms, Mitsuba, and Cayenne Pepper.
Panko Fried Zucchini Blossom Stuffed with Corn and Satoimo Yam, Zucchini, Orange-Tomato Paste and Pink Pepper....
...here's the interior of the zucchini blossom - you can see the corn and yam. Beautiful, right?
...and an Array of Seasonal Fruit...figs, grapes, melon, yuzu...everything was perfectly cut and picturesque!
Spaghetti Squash Stuffed with Chilled Summer Vegetable Soup Served over Mixed Tempura. The tempura included Eggplant, Burdock, and Shishito Peppers. The soup was composed of Okra, Nameko Mushrooms, Carrots, Purple Cauliflower, Baby Corn and Celery.
Here's a better look at the spaghetti squash :)
The whole squash was presented at the table, and we were free to help ourselves to more of the "soup."
Sauteed Asparagus Rice served with...
...Aonori Sauce...
...and Ginger Sesame House-Made Pickles.
Fresh Peach Mochi...the filling was a mixture of sweetened white bean paste and diceds
Matcha Tea served with...
...Candies by Kyoto Kagizen-Yoshifusa. Melt-in-your-mouth sugar nibbles, more for appearance sake than taste. I always forget how caffeinated matcha tea is - I drank most of it and could not fall asleep the entire evening. Needless to say, I was exhausted this morning! Next time, will make sure to regulate :)
P.S. Their water glasses are exquisite (imported from Japan, of course ;). Kajitsu is the only restaurant in NYC to use these glasses...certainly the lightest I've ever held!
1. Squash Blossoms.
2. Basil.
3. Fairytale Eggplant.
Lunch for One: Penne with Spicy Cauliflower at Otto
Sugar Rush: Lime Cornmeal and Orange Butter Cookies at Amy's Bread
Sugar Rush: Chocolate Marquise at Spot Dessert Bar
Lunch for One: Smørrebrød at Aquavit
Sugar Rush: Just Sweet
Sugar Rush: Mari's New York
Sugar Rush: Mango-Passionfruit Sorbet at La Maison du Chocolat
Shall we start with the end? This is lunch. And man, was it fantastic.
Last Friday, Fresh Direct invited me out for a day in North Fork, Long Island to tour two farms and a winery that's part of their recently expanded local market. The idea behind the market is to get seasonal and local produce from the farm to (your!) table in 48 hours.
We started off at Wickham's Fruit Farm then moved on to Satur Farms and concluded the day at Paumanok Vineyard where Eberhard Muller of Satur Farms cooked the most wonderful lunch paired with wines from Paumanok.
There was sea bass and roasted carrots, a two string bean salad, beets and sherry vinegar, potatoes, and a cauliflower salad. Everything minus the sea bass was from Satur Farms. I can't remember the last time I ate this well! And by "well" I mean nutritionally "well" in addition to deliciously "well." I always get the delicious part down...it's just the nutrition part that I'm not so hot with ;)
For dessert we feasted on buttery shortbread cookies and a stone fruit soup dotted with fresh red currants.
The real standout of the meal? These POTATOES! Eberhard explained that they were just Yukon Gold potatoes from their farm. Boiled in salted water, diced, a little olive oil. AND THAT'S IT. But why so insanely delicious, I asked. He paused for a minute and then stared me in the eye. His reply (accompanied by a mischievous smile), "I dug them from the ground just two hours ago."
Paulette Satur and Eberhard Muller of Satur Farms
Now we can go back to the beginning. We arrived in North Fork around 11am, after a 2.5 hour ride from Manhattan. Wickham's Fruit Farm was our first stop. Can you believe that's asparagus growing in the photo right above?
We stopped by the blueberry bushes...
...to pick a snack ;)
And ate tomatoes fresh off the vine. We picked them ourselves! hehe.
More tomatoes...
...I'd be glad to spend the whole day in here, picking one after another. Oh goodness, if only I had a fresh ball of burrata by my side!
Before leaving the Farm we stopped at the fruit stand to oogle the berries, and basil, the apricots and tomatoes, the honey and pies...
...and doughnuts, oh my!
Next stop, Satur Farms!
Paulette Satur (she and her husband Eberhard Muller started Satur Farms together) took us around the farm and we were able to see everything from the planting of the soon to be vegetables to the chilled packing rooms.
Check out the carrots...and the SIZE OF THOSE LEEKS!
Almost makes you reconsider the city, huh? ^_^