Insightful Appetite

As my moving date approaches, I’ve been dreading all the annoying stuff that comes with uprooting your life from one space to another in New York City: the overpriced “professional” movers, the stringent building rules, the requisite box-collapse and spillage of belongings on a large avenue sidewalk… okay, maybe that last one’s only happened to me more than once, but no matter how you look at it, moving is stressful. And I’m certainly feeling it. In one week from today, I’ll be living in another apartment and though I should be excited, I feel the stress of the amount of packing I have ahead of me for this week. Oy. In the meantime, I’d like to think about delightful wines and fine dining in my new ‘hood. So let me tell you all a Friday night tale about Terroir Tribeca, an amazing wine bar a mere twenty minutes by foot from my new place. There’s also locations in Murray Hill and the East Village (both of which I’ve been to), but I’ve gotta say the Tribeca location is my new favorite. BT and I arrived around 8PM on the Friday night just after we signed the lease on our new apartment to a packed and vibrant wine bar with high tables and hipsters and older folk alike. It was a diverse crowd paired with a diverse wine menu (love the pairings) and in essence, a deliciously good time.

Terroir’s menu is kind of insane. Each location has a crazy menu disguised as a binder full of detailed wine notes, tips and tricks. It’s essentially a long, disorganized essay of witty wino banter. It’s almost too lengthy for a restaurant setting but definitely worth reading at home. So yeah, that’s your homework after reading this post.

We took the advice of our cute and spunky hipster waitress (I swear the Terroir hipsters are different – people you actually want to talk to who aren’t totally idiotic in every sense of the word) and ordered a bottle of Schioppettino. Sure, it was pricey for us, but totally worth it. I can’t describe wine so I won’t even bother, but let’s just say this variety warrants an hour long (unsuccessful) search through several wine shops in Manhattan on a lonely Thursday evening. If you see it at Terroir or another wine bar, just get it. You’ll be happy.

The rest of the night was just as successful as the wine: we split a bunch of items from the menu, most of which is composed of small plates and sides. Some standouts were the duck salad (despite its simplistic appearance), the meatballs and nutella-like budino dessert. Check it:

Duck Prosciutto Mushrooms, Stinky Cheese

Brussel Sprout Frittata

Frisée, Crispy Duck Confit, Gorgonzola, Shallot

Veal and Ricotta Meatballs

Chocolate Budino + Candied Hazelnuts

But then of course there’s the reality check: this was a celebratory wegotanapartmentYAY night, and can’t happen all the time. Restraint must be practiced after I move, as I’ll be too close to Terroir and other classy (read: expensive) Tribeca establishments. Life is hard. Until I can have another night like this, I’ll be packing, unpacking and eating take-out from styrofoam boxes. Good times.

Let’s talk Italian. Yeah, it’s certainly my new favorite cuisine. And there are so many regional varieties, types of food establishments, and way more courses than necessary.

But I just can’t get enough. Like my three-year-long Mexican food obsession (don’t ask), I’ve been thinking about not only fantastical Italian restaurant experiences, but also all of the delicious creations to come out of my kitchen in the future: gnocchi, homemade ravioli, meatballs, a fab Fra Diavolo, branzino, biscotti, and cannoli, to name a few. Yeah – I dream big.

This past week, I checked off one of the items on my Italian food list: lasagna. Or lasagne, if you’re legit Italian/know what you’re talking about. The last time I made lasagna I chose very, um, different ingredients – ingredients that bring me back to crunchy vintage Sofia days. This time I around I indulged my meaty cravings and made a mini-meatball layered lasagna with a red Italian sausage sauce. I bought fancy ricotta and mixed that with a ton of parmesan and mozzarella for the cheese mixture and layered this all between regular old lasagna noodles.

And damn, it was good. And meaty. And I proceeded to eat lasagna four nights in a row for dinner. (Maybe I am sorry for that, as I got a little sick of it by night four.) Make this lasagna and freeze half of it portioned into mini plastic containers so you’ll have a quick, comforting and hearty meal with the press of a couple microwave buttons. Like the microwave itself (let’s talk about how I grew up without one and they still weird me out), this stuff is magical.

Rubirosa Lasagne

From Saveur

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 ½ lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 ribs celery, minced
• 1 large yellow onion, minced
• 1 medium carrot, minced
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 28-oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 5 oz. each ground beef, veal, and pork
• ⅓ cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
• 5 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
• 3 tbsp. finely grated pecorino
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 slices country white bread, soaked in ½ cup water, drained, squeezed dry
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ small yellow onion, minced
• 2 cups whole-milk ricotta
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1 ½ cups finely grated parmesan
• 8 oz. lasagna noodles, cooked

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make the sauce: heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook, stirring to break up large pieces, until browned, about 6 minutes; drain off fat. Add celery, large onion, and carrot; cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add wine; cook until reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves, reduce heat to medium; cook until reduced and thick, about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper; set aside.
2. To make the meatballs: mix beef, veal, pork, breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp. parsley, pecorino, garlic, white bread, eggs, onion, and salt and pepper in a bowl; form into about 60, ½″ meatballs. Heat remaining oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat; working in batches, add meatballs, and cook until browned all over, about 8 minutes. Set aside.
3. To make the lasagne: Heat oven to 350°. Mix ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan in a bowl; set aside. Spread ¼ of the sauce in bottom of a 9″ × 13″ baking dish; top with ⅓ of the noodles. Top with ⅓ remaining sauce, followed by ⅓ of the cheeses; spread meatballs evenly over cheeses. Top with half remaining noodles; add half remaining sauce and half remaining cheese. Add remaining noodles, sauce, and then cheeses; bake until bubbly and browned on top, about 50 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Good food-things are happening on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Unfortunately, I happen to be moving out of the neighborhood just as the renaissance of uptown fancy food is occurring, so project Upper West Eat Out (you like the name, don’t ya?) is underway. For months I’ve been eagerly awaiting the opening of Jacob’s Pickles, a spacious pub/restaurant with a menu containing lots of fried things, and of course, many pickles. I had high hopes going into this meal, and I was not at all let down.

BT and I sauntered in at 5PM for brinner (brunch and dinner… together) this past Saturday. I’m rarely eating at this hour so I was surprised to see the Upper West Side parenting parties with the kiddies taking place, but whatever – it comes with the territory. We started with a huge plate of three types of pickles, the special sours, salt & pepper asparagus and the hot sours. I liked the hot sours the best, naturally, and the pickled asparagus was pretty solid too. A brine-y good time for an appetizer for sure.

At Jacob’s, you’ve gotta get beer with your meal. Trust me. I started with an Ommegang-Abbey ale, then moved onto something else that I can’t remember the name of. They’ve got an interesting beer menu to peruse, so my nascent beer curiosity was most certainly piqued.

I admired the exposed brick (and admittedly, the babies – there was a little girl at the table next to us named Sofia!) and rustic pub-like yet classy vibe of the place, while we waited for our entrees. I also drank my beers relatively faster than usual to cut the saltiness of the massive plate of pickles we had eaten. Next time I’ll go the fried pickle route… which will also necessitate much beer drinking. Oh well.

The menu at Jacob’s is sort of limited. You’ve got a few fried chicken sandwiches, some salads and a splash of seafood. Obviously I had to get a sandwich, because I felt like any other menu option would be sort of weak. (Except maybe the mac and cheese, but I’ll save that for a return visit.) I ended up with the Honey Chicken & Pickles biscuit-wich with buttermilk fried chicken, hot sours and local honey. This is a serious biscuit sandwich: the honey with the fried chicken was a fantastic touch, and then paired with the sour and heat of the spicy pickles? Perfection. And of course a buttery biscuit instead of plain old bread really put this thing over the top. Man. Oh. Man.

BT went with the Sausage Gravy Smothered Chicken with buttermilk with fried chicken. He devoured this hefty little biscuit-wich, along with the somewhat soupy cheesy grits on the side. Yum.

By the time dessert rolled around, we were both a little too full for anything more. But when has that stopped us? Let’s be real. We had to try the Biscuit Bourbon Bread Pudding, which wasn’t outer-worldly, but I do appreciate buttery sweetness at the end of any meal, so I can’t really say anything immensely negative about this dish. Next time, though, I’d opt for ice cream nearby to cut all the fried and salty goodness. Obviously.

Jacob’s Pickles was so good that I didn’t really knock another restaurant off my Upper West Eat Out list, which is both good and bad. I’m hoping to try the Fried Pickles and Obligatory Mac and Cheese (yes, the menu calls it that) during my next visit. And some more beer varieties to broaden my fermented wheat-y beverage horizons. I’m all about expanding my mind and getting a little pickled every now and then. Yeah… I’m so funny.