Restaurant Review 1: Gramercy Tavern, NYC

For my first restaurant review, I thought I'd start out with a bang! From what little I know about the NYC food scene, Gramercy Tavern is well known for being a great place to have a delicious, memorable meal. Whether it's healthy or not depends more on how much you eat -- and as you'll see below, we ate waaaaay too much. And it was delicious.

I should start off with a short explanation, though, before getting into the review. I find that people who write restaurant reviews, particularly on Yelp, tend to have no discernible focus and often end up complaining about whatever bothered them the most during their meal. My reviews may comment in passing about the interior or the service -- both of which are important to the dining experience. But rest assured, my main focus will always be on the food. 

Also, my wife and I probably don't eat out for the same reasons as a lot of other people. Those of you who know me know that I am very lucky, for many reasons. One reason in particular is that I am blessed with a wife who is an amazing cook. I don't just mean she knows how to use a knife and fry an egg; my wife has a chef's license to cook Italian, French, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. So she knows how to make most of the things we eat in restaurants, and she can often make them better herself (and she does). That's why when we go out to eat, it's usually for one of two reasons. Either we want to eat something that is too complicated or too much trouble to make at home, or we want to experience something that is beyond my wife's abilities in the kitchen. The latter type of experience is harder to come by, and it is generally pretty pricey.

Gramercy Tavern satisfied both of our desires. The food was fantastic, the recipes were complex yet simply delicious, and we were very impressed by the cook's skillz. If you are looking to spend at least $100 a person in New York City (not a hard thing to do), then I truly recommend you spend it here. If you can get in.

The first time we tried to get a table at this restaurant, we were denied. I tried to make a reservation a day in advance, and they were fully booked. I think it was a Thursday night or something. The second time it was a Sunday night, and I called about 40 minutes in advance. They happened to have an opening, and voila! -- we were in.

The interior was not too complex or ostentatious, and everything was pleasing to the eye. I could say the same thing about the food. We went with the course dinner menu for $88. It comes with a choice of one appetizer, one main, and some small desserts. We ended up ordering 2 (or was it 3?) desserts in addition to those that came with our meal; they threw in an extra 2 on the house!

We each ordered a drink; I had a glass of white wine, and Hiromi had a delicious non-alcoholic cocktail. She had a nice soup, and I chose the smoked trout (pictured below). I decided on the trout once the server said it was her favorite, and it was a signature dish of the chef.

I could tell why it was considered one of the chef's specialties. It may not look like much, but this dish was well designed and perfectly executed. The flavors all complimented each other without any one thing overpowering the dish as a whole. I enjoyed the fish by itself, with the various sauces, and with the pickled onion. I was very impressed (as was Hiromi) by the initial flavor of the dish and by the way it faded into a wonderful aftertaste. Great with my white wine! I highly recommend that anyone who likes fish, or delicious food, try this dish.

For our main courses, Hiromi got a delicious piece of fish (I can't remember what offhand), and I ordered the duck. Her fish was very good, and I loved my duck. I am a big fan of duck cooked well; it is not the easiest meat to prepare. Hiromi doesn't usually like duck because it often tastes gamey. This duck was great; even Hiromi enjoyed it! The meat was perfectly cooked (medium rare for me!), and the combination of the vegetables and sauce left me very satisfied. I should mention that I was surprised at the amount of meat! The picture (at right) doesn't do it justice, since I took it after I had already started eating...

Lastly, we had dessert. We ordered two or three desserts, and they ended up throwing in two more desserts (maybe because we were having a hard time choosing?!), so we ended up getting five amazing desserts that would satisfy any dessert-lover. We had our meal a few months ago, so I am not 100% sure, but I believe the desserts were: (1) sticky toffee fig cake; (2) warm chocolate bread pudding; (3) [something delicious and fruity that I can't remember exactly, with a coconut wafer thing on top], (4) pineapple upside down cake; and (5) peanut butter semifreddo. They were all great, but my favorites were the fig cake and peanut butter semifreddo. I sprinkled the photos of the desserts throughout this posting, as I'm sure you noticed. I definitely didn't have room for the mini desserts that came with our course, so we ended up taking them home.

So in summary, the restaurant's interior was very nice, the service was great, and the food was amazing. I hope you enjoyed the posting, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your meal at Gramercy Tavern -- if you can get a table!

Healthy Vegetarian (or Vegan) Lasagna

Happy Passover (and Easter), everyone!

Today, I'm going to share a not-so Passover friendly recipe with you--Lasagna with tofu ricotta!! It's vegetarian, and it's delicious. I actually like it a lot better than regular lasagna... And if you choose to substitute the cheese on top for soy cheese, the dish is vegan. Yum!

But before we dive into the recipe, here's a video of Sarah driving for the first time:

Now onto the recipe!

Here are the tools/implements you'll need: 

a food processor

some bowls to mix the ingredients

an oven

a pan with a lid

a couple mixing spoon

a spatula or something to spread the spaghetti sauce with

a 9" x 13" baking dish

The ingredients are split into two categories: (1) the Tofu Ricotta ingredients and (2) everything else. First, I'll explain how to make the Tofu Ricotta, and then I'll go through the actual making of the lasagna. Note, however, that once you get the hang of it, you can actually make the Tofu Ricotta while the vegetables are "sweating" (see below). 

Tofu Ricotta Ingredients: 

1 block of firm tofu (14 oz.), drained (by leaving in a sieve for 20 minutes) or microwaved for 3 minutes

1 1/2 Tsp. tahini

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp. vegetable stock paste/cubes (Hiromi uses Better than Bouillon)

A pinch of ground nutmeg

1 Tsp. mellow white miso

1 Tsp. lemon juice

To make the Tofu Ricotta, take all the above ingredients and put them in a food processor. Viola! Easy enough, I know. The next part is not much more complicated. 

Lasagna Ingredients: 

2 cups spaghetti sauce (Hiromi likes Trader Joe's organic spaghetti sauce)

Some oil (to saute the vegetables)

Some salt

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 cup grated carrot

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

6 oven-ready lasagna noodles

2 1/2 cups of the Tofu Ricotta (see above)

1 package (16 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

1 1/2 cups grated cabbage

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or soy cheese)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (omit if you are going for vegan lasagna)

Directions: 

(1) Heat the oil in a pan. Place the sliced onion in the pan with a pinch of salt and saute on medium heat for 1 minute. Then cover with the lid and let the onion suer (French for "sweat" -- called that because the salt and heat cause water to escape from the vegetable) for 3 minutes. Next, throw the carrot into the pan with another pinch of salt, and let everything suer for another 3 minutes. Lastly, throw the cabbage into the pan with a pinch of salt, and let it all suer for another 3 minutes. Transfer everything to a bowl and mix with the oregano and spaghetti sauce. 

(2) If you haven't made the Tofu Ricotta yet, make it now. 

(3) Mix the Tofu Ricotta and spinach together in a separate bowl. 

(4) Spread 1/2 cup of the spaghetti sauce mixture on the bottom of the baking dish. 

(5) Layer the following on top of the spaghetti sauce in the baking dish in the following order: 3 lasagna noodles; 1/2 of the remaining spaghetti sauce, 1/2 the Tofu Ricotta, 1/2 the sliced mushrooms, 1/2 the mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 the parmesan cheese.

(6) Repeat step (5) with the remaining ingredients. 

(7) Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Enjoy!