NYC in 24 Hours

by Erin



Confession: I have an addiction. A serious, debilitating addiction (surprisingly, NOT to bacon). It's an addiction to New York City! I can't get enough - I think about it all the time, I fantasize about living there, SO many of my favorite people live there, and let's not forget about the FOOD! I masochistically signed up for Tasting Table NYC just to hear about all the up and coming food spots I will not be able to partake in but for my sporatic visits a few times a year.

Anyway, between graduation and beginning bar review (uuuggh), I had about a week to just sit around and soak up the rare feeling of having nothing to do. Of course, a trip to NYC was definitely on my list, but I could only come in the middle of the week when most of my buddies/family had to work, so (with the encouragement of Mom and Lauren) I chose to come for a whirlwind, 24 hour trip!


Instead of the train, I took the Bolt Bus from Baltimore ($10 each way - can't beat that!) and arrived just in time to meet up with BFF Lauren in the West Village for a drink before we met up with cousins Ann and Steven for dinner. We ate at Malatesta Trattoria, a quaint Italian place right near the water with open windows and house-made pasta.

Highlights of the meal included the grilled calamari, which was so tender and had a nice added charred flavor, and the sauteed spinach with lots of garlic.



Grilled calamari



Sauteed spinaci



Caprese salad

I also liked my dish, the pasta arrabbiata, a lot - had lots of heat and the sauce was not too heavy. The others also enjoyed their dishes: Steven got ravioli with pink sauce, Lauren got one of the specials, pappardelle with crab (and something else but I can't remember), and Ann got spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce (also can't remember -- all brain cells are being used for legal information at the moment, sorry!).


Ravioli with pink sauce



Spaghetti with tomato and...other stuff



Papardelle with tomato and crab



Penne arrabbiatta

All three of their dishes were made with house-made pasta; the penne in my dish was unfortunately not, but it was cooked to the perfect al dente.

We did not get dessert at Malatesta because we had plans to go to Amy's Bread for -- what else -- CUPCAKES! We in fact not only got an assortment of cupcakes, we also got a few slices of their ridiculously good looking full-sized cakes!

We got red velvet cupcakes and a vanilla cupcake with lovely pink frosting. We also got slices of coconut cake, carrot cake, and German chocolate cake. Actually, we got everything but the German chocolate and as we sat down, Steven got back up and bought the GC slice - the man loves chocolate, what can we say?

Everything was so delicious! As for the cupcakes, I recall the red velvet was good but the frosting was more of a meringue buttercream (more butter than sugar), not the traditional cream cheese frosting. The carrot cake, however, DID have CC frosting and it was bad-ass! The pink cupcake was pretty perfect: not too sweet cake, pretty sweet frosting, good frosting-to-cake ratio.



Pink! And so delicious



Red velvet - we got the last two!

As for the cakes, they were all delicious. The coconut cake was probably my favorite - so moist and coconutty... [drooling]. Surprisingly (or, not so surprisingly?) I really liked the carrot cake! I had it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it, so I guess I like carrot cake now.



Coconut cake...nom nom nom



Carrot cake



Ann and Steven - love them! And they love cake



Me and LP! We love the pink one!



Steven with his secret extra slice of German chocolate cake



Cupcake carnage



This is the face of a diabetic coma

After we had lapsed into diabetic comas, we stumbled home - Ann and Steven to their apartment in the Flatiron District, me and Lauren to her home in Brooklyn.

The next morning, I took the train into the city with Lauren as she went to work and I went to Madison Square Park, one of my fave spots in the city (which happens to be right outside Ann and Steven's apartment - alas they were at work, lame!). I read my book and enjoyed a Brooklyn bagel we picked up on the way to the train, and then my good friend Kerry arrived! Kerry, a fellow UM law grad (whom you may remember from our meal at Otto in NYC, amongst others), also had nothing to do before bar studying began, so we got to spend some QT together.

One of my and Kerry's favorite things about Madison Square Park is the fact that SHAKE SHACK is there! I've been there several times and just love it. We just happened to be strolling by just as they were opening, so we decided to get a wee snack just for kicks. We got one Shackburger (cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, shack sauce) and a small cup of frozen custard to share. One of the flavors of the day: salted caramel.



Custard!



Kerry and shackburger - two of my favorite things



Hooboy - that was GOOD. The burger was great, as always, and the frozen custard just blew me away! First, custard has a great texture, different from ice cream or gelato, and it reminds me of when I lived in St. Louis and we got to enjoy Ted Drewes custard all the time. Second, salted caramel frozen custard?! I love salted caramel anything, and here it was fantastic: sweet, salty, creamy, melty, yummy.

After our snack, Kerry and I walked around for a while, I picked up some Ess-a Bagels for the family back home, and I got to see Kerry's new apartment - very nice indeed. Then, we parted ways and I met up with Lauren to have my farewell lunch at The Odeon Restaurant.



We ate outside and had a lovely lunch amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. (I believe we were in Tribeca?) Lauren got the tuna burger with a spicy wasabi mayo, and I got the tarragon chicken salad on grilled baguette, which was served with a watercress salad. I appreciated that they used baguette - most chicken salad sandwiches come on soft bread, which gets too mushy in my opinion. Here, not only did they use baguette, they grilled it, making it even more crunchy and delicious - bravo, Odeon, bravo.



Tuna burger with great fries



Now that's a happy girl



Chicken salad on grilled baguette

After lunch, I took the train (all by myself!) to Penn Station and got back on the ol' Bolt Bus. What a great 24 hour trip! I got to see many of my A-listers and ate a few good meals and snacks. Thanks Lauren, Ann, Steven, and Kerry! Love to you all, and hopefully see you in the City soon!

Happy NYC visiting,
EP

Today is National Donut Day!

by Erin



Hey folks! My apologies for being a bit absent in recent weeks - I have started studying for the dreaded bar exam so I don't have much time for anything that does not include studying, eating, or sleeping (with the occasional break for recorded episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance"). BUT, I had to take a break from studying to inform all you donut-loving readers that today is National Donut Day! Apparently Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' are celebrating with freebies.

We love a good donut, so let's take a trip down memory lane to remember some of our favorite donuts we've had in the two years we've been blogging [cue music, "The Road is Long"]:

Dunkin' donut on Free Iced Coffee Day

Coffee and mini donut at Egg in NYC

The BCD girls at the Doughnut Plant in NYC!

Donut tasting - donuts from Doughnut Plant NYC

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans

Read more of our donut-related posts here. And the picture at the top is courtesy of our BFF Lauren from when she did a field report on Dynamo Donuts in San Francisco for us.

Happy donut day!
EP

ps. Post coming soon about my post-graduation whirlwind trip to NYC! I promise it's coming as soon as I just learn all the elements of larceny, robbery, burglary, larceny by trick, false pretenses, forgery, etc. etc. etc.

Meat and Potatoes

by Xani

A classic/recurring joke at the BCD dinner table is to look down at the plates of delicious, elaborate food we've prepared (and the piles of dirty dishes in the kitchen) and say "oh, just a little something we whipped up." And then we all have a hearty chuckle. Because dinner is always an event, a challenge, a walk down memory lane-- it's never simple, even when, at its core, it is. Which brings me to the meat and potatoes meal we "whipped up" Saturday night at Blackacre.

Steak, potatoes, asparagus-- a basic, classic meal served in restaurants and homes around the country, right? But each time its served the chef or cook gets to make decisions that start to change the meal and make it something special. Where do the ingredients come from? How fresh are they? How are they prepared? Steak in a cast-iron pan or on the grill or in the broiler? Mashed, baked, or fried potatoes? Boiled or steamed asparagus? With sauce or without? And so on... one of the joys of cooking is making these small changes to a basic dish or meal and then seeing how drastically those changes have affected the outcome.

At Kitchen Stadium, even when we go basic, we go BIG and BOLD. Let's start with the steaks:

Not your ordinary new york strip or filet. These beasts were carved off a 15 pound hunk of boneless prime rib roast by Yours Truly just a few hours before we cooked them. Prior to that, they had been wet-aging a Cryo-vac package in the fridge at Blackacre for about 3.5 weeks (during which time the meat began to "break down" aka rot and therefore produce a more tender and succulent steak). We used a kitchen scale, a tape measure and a super-sharp knife to break the 15 pounds into a 5.5 lb boneless rib roast, and 4 (approx.) 2.5 lb steaks. We froze all but two of these, which we brought to room temperature, seasoned heavily with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, seared for 5 minutes per side in a screaming hot cast iron pan, then into the oven until they reached an internal temperature of 122 degrees.

Now the potatoes: simple, yes, but decadent. From #35 on this list, duck-fat roasted potatoes are certainly worth shortening your life for. These little babies came from our favorite local farm stand, Emily's. I peeled a strip from the center of each potato before tossing them into hot duck fat, and sauteed until deep golden brown, crispy, and cooked through.

Local asparagus, also from Emily's, were blanched in salted water while EP tried her hand at hollandaise. For her first attempt at this classic (and notoriously temperamental) sauce, she took a little help from technology and made it in the food processor, using a technique from Julia Child. The egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and pepper went into the food processor while butter was melted. The hot butter was poured slowly into the whirring egg mixture until the sauce became a thick cream. Voila, hollandaise!

Successful timing meant that all our dishes were ready to serve at exactly the same time. The meat had rested for 20 minutes or so and was ready to carve just as the potatoes were pulled off the heat and seasoned, asparagus were drained and sauce finished.

Check out the final plate:

Simple and beautiful and beyond delicious. Add some fabulous Amarone to drink, gorgeous sunset outside and great conversation about how "meat and potatoes" has changed in America over the last 50 years and what a nice little evening we whipped up.

Graduation Celebration at Charleston!

by Erin

Last week -- I can't believe I can say this -- I graduated from law school! Long-time readers will recall that when Xani and I started BCD, I had just finished my first year of school and I was in the middle of petitioning for journal. Ah, those were the days!

A while ago, Mom and Dad asked me where I wanted to go for my graduation dinner and I chose the Charleston Restaurant, arguably the best/most upscale restaurant in Baltimore. We had been to Charleston twice before, but not since 2007. We had always gone for Xani's and Mom's birthdays, and had therefore only been in the winter, so we were excited to go in the spring and see how Chef Wolf incorporated the delicious seasonal veggies.

After a hectic day of graduation festivities, we met up at Charleston, located in the swanky Harbor East area of the city. We had cocktails in the small but comfortable bar: Mom got a bellini, Dad got a scotch (JWB on the rocks with a twist), Xani got a mojito, and I got a champagne cocktail. After we finished our drinks, we made our way to our table, located in a small room with windows overlooking a quiet street. The decor at Charleston is cozy and luxurious, but not stuffy.



We sat down and the waitress brought us an assortment of breads: a dinner roll, a delicious corn-shaped piece of cornbread, and some other type of bread. Meanwhile we perused the menu, which was divided into "hot," "cool," "fish," "birds and game," "meats," and "cheese."



As many of you know, we LOVE to share and you'll often find us rotating plates even at the fanciest of places. This meal was no different, but we have wised up a bit in terms of our "sharing technique." While normally we would each get a different 4- or 5-course meal, and then eat a quarter of the dish, and pass to the next person, this resulted in a person getting approximately one spoonful of soup or one molecule of foie gras or duck, and it was a bit frustrating, especially if the dish was really good! So, we modified our technique where we basically have two 4- or 5-course menus, and two of us get one of the menus, and the other two get the other, so you only have to switch once per course. Granted, you only get to try 8-10 dishes instead of 16-20, but we are okay with this.

We challenged our wonderful waiter, Len, by telling him which 10 dishes we wanted, and let him arrange them into two 5-course meals. We also asked him to pair wines with everything. It is a testament to his and the staff's skills that he took on the challenge with only a slight wince and performed beautifully.

First we enjoyed an amuse bouche of...some delicious soup that I can't remember. Asparagus maybe? It was awesome - that's all I know. Then came the many courses! (Note that many of these dishes are still on the menu but a few are not, so I have tried to describe them from memory as best I can!)


First course (hot):

• Charleston Shellfish Bisque, Lobster, Shrimp, Tarragon Oil
  
• Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, and Real Grits
  

Shrimp and Grits

Shellfish Bisque

Second course (cold):

• Salad of Fresh Artichoke, Celery, Chives, and Lemon
  
• Asparagus with Goat Cheese

Asparagus with goat cheese


Artichoke and celery salad

Third course (fish):

• Pan Roasted Alaskan Halibut, Creole Sauce, Tabasco Scented Rice, Crispy Shrimp
  
• Seared Scallop with Citrus Supremes and Roasted Beets
  

Seared scallop

Halibut and shrimp

Fourth course (delicious offal - at this point they were mixing "birds and game" and "meats" so I have given this course my own title!):

• Pan-Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Yukon Gold Potato & Bacon Hash, Madiera Pan Sauce


• Sweetbreads with Roasted Cauliflower
  

Foie gras!


Sweetbreads

Fifth course (meats and birdies):

• Pan-Roasted Magret Duck Breast, Rhubarb Compote, Port Wine and Bing Cherry Reduction


• Grilled Colorado Lamb Chop
  

Lamb chop

Ze duck with cherries

What a meal!! So many of these dishes were outstanding, which we have come to expect of Chef Wolf - she is amazing! To avoid a lot of repetitive gushing, I will discuss a few of the tip top stand-out dishes.

The both of the first hot courses were amazing and we've had them both in the past - obviously they are classics and are so loved that they haven't left the menu in over 2 years! The shellfish bisque is super-rich with lots of great seafood flavor in the soup, plus a generous portion of shrimp and lobster atop the soup itself. There is, as to be expected, a hearty helping of cream and some liquor (probably sherry?) in the soup as well, which make it even more exquisite.

The shrimp and grits were also wonderful and so flavorful from the spicy andouille sausage, the creamy grits, and the perfectly cooked shrimp. My mouth is watering as I type this!

Another standout was the foie gras, but how could it not be good? Foie gras + potatoes + bacon?! I have yet to meet a foie gras dish I didn't love and this one was no exception. We also loved the duck, which was perfectly cooked and was served with that awesome bing cherry sauce. I also recall the lamb being superb and again, perfectly cooked. I see a theme here!

One surprise of the evening (for at least Xani and Mom) was that the scallop was so wonderful. Normally they are not big scallop eaters but in this dish, the scallop was seared but still creamy on the inside, and had a subtle scallop flavor that played beautifully off the pine nuts, citrus, and yummy roasted beets.

After our meal, while discussing our favorites, Len brought up the subject of dessert. (Dessert, by the way, is included in any 3- to 6-course meal you select. Very classy, Charleston.) I was especially excited for dessert not only because of my sweet tooth, but also because our friend Joy is the pastry chef at Charleston! She is so accomplished and we are really proud of her.

I had told her we were coming for my graduation, but I really didn't know what to expect in terms of special (dessert) treatment, or if I should expect anything to begin with. But before we could even begin discussing dessert, Len brought out a beautiful cake made by Joy just for me! AND, it turned out that she and Xani had been in cahoots and had discussed what flavors it should be, and decided on a dark chocolate cake and a coffee filling - kinda like Black Coffee and a Donut flavored!! Amazing. How did I get so lucky??




The cake was chocolatey and coffee-y (love that flavor combo) and served with fresh raspberries on the side. Add a round of coffees and espressos and a glass of armagnac for the table, and it was a delicious end to the meal. Oh wait - there were little chocolates, a mini lemon square, and a macaron too! THANKS JOY for everything! You really made my night even more special!


And thanks to my wonderful parents and Xani, and to all my friends who supported and encouraged me (and talked me down) over these past three years. Only two more months of bitching while I study for the bar, and you'll be home free ;)

Congrats to my fellow graduates!

Happy celebrating,

EVP, J.D.

ps. Here are a few pictures from graduation:

Me and Xani at the Recognition Ceremony the night before graduation, where I received an award for my clinical work

Getting hooded by my favorite professor, Prof. Van Alstine!

All four of us had Prof. Keller for Income Tax, so we had to get a picture with him!

A shot of my awesome hood!

Family! Lots of lawyers