BCD gone Mad (Men)!

by Xani

It's probably not news to many of you that EP and I LOVE a good theme party. It just makes a regular party that much more fun! Plus, it gives us an excuse to wear costumes. Over the weekend, we threw one of our best theme parties yet: a Mad Men Birthday Party!

If you aren't familiar with the award-winning show (which, I have to admit, I have only seen a few episodes of myself. But I have season 1 from Netflix! Which means I'll get around to watching it approximately... NEVER.), its set in the early 1960s, in New York City and the surrounding 'burbs. Thus, the inspiration for our party! Big hair, classic cocktails, and traditional party foods (with our signature spin).


We did a lot of research and found several links with advice on throwing your own Mad Men-themed party. This one, this one, and this one helped us get started. We also surveyed our parents for cocktail and menu ideas, and came up with a few creative elements on our own! Here is what we decided on for the menu:

• Crudites w/green goddess dressing: classic and delicious (and garlicky!)
• Union square bar nuts: always a hit-- guests who showed up on time got to have them warm out of the oven! Oh wait, NO ONE showed up on time.
• Deviled eggs: another classic with a slight twist. We used Blue Smoke's version, which has a hint of curry powder. All of our guests loved these and I've already had several requests for the recipe.
• Pigs in blankets with mustard picalilli sauce: store bought piggies with a fantastic sauce (which was a repeat from our Sausage and Beer party).
• Mini-quiche: also store-bought, but very tasty, and quiche is SO retro.
• Crostini with mushrooms, blue cheese, and proscuitto: we made this recipe for a party MANY years ago, pre-blog. But it was good enough to remember, and our guests gobbled them up.
• Chips & french onion dip: if you think we would just stir a packet of onion dip into sour cream, you obviously don't read this blog regularly. This version by Ina Garten was 10,000 times tastier, even if the onions took most of the afternoon to caramelize.

But most of what we read online said that a true 1960s cocktail party would be all about the cocktails. So, we made sure to set up a fully stocked bar, and supplied a bar menu so our guests could mix up some classic creations.

While we had ingredients on hand for martinis, screwdrivers, tom collins, old fashioneds, white russians, etc., the real hit of the party was the Moscow Mule. A little vodka, a squeeze of lime, a splash of ginger beer (we used the fabulous Regatta Ginger Beer, which is unparalleled by anything else I've found in the states. If you're in Canada, that's a different story). They were out-of-this-world, the bee's knees, [insert period-appropriate exclamation here]! It was the party favorite and we went through a LOT of vodka and ginger beer. Also, almost an entire bottle of Maker's Mark. Even out of plastic cups, its goes down smooth. The beer we bought (Stroh's and Ballantine's Ale, both popular in the 60s) went untouched. Guess people were really feeling the cocktail vibe!

A few more entertaining notes:

Outfits: EP and I worked tirelessly to put together the perfect outfits, along with makeup and hairdos. In fact, we did TONS of research on hair, and ended up using these helpful videos from Strawberry Koi for instructions on how to create our bouffant and up-do styles. This involved putting our hair in pincurls the night before the party, sleeping in them, then taking them out and teasing the CRAP out of our hair to create "volume." Also, LOTS of hairspray and bobby pins. We were so happy with the final results, it was worth all the effort! And we weren't the only ones dressed up-- thanks to all our fabulous friends who came in pretty frocks, seamed stockings, and skinny ties.

Good shot of our hair, but with an anachronistic Blackberry in the pic!

Erin rocking the Breakfast at Tiffanys 'do

Another fab 'do-- ignore the bunny ears

Decor/props:

To properly set the scene, we gave my already slightly "mod" house a few extra touches. We hid modern items (like remotes and laptops), and decorated with balloons and crepe paper, which have been around forever. Also, since everyone in Mad Men is constantly smoking, we put little ashtrays with fake cigarettes (from Party City, in the costume department) on every available surface. Yes, all those cigarettes in the pictures are FAKE-- I can't imagine letting all this people smoke in my house! Not that anyone smokes anymore, but still...ew. The fake ones were an awesome prop for our pictures, along with a pair of dark-rimmed glasses (also from the costume store).

But the BEST prop was the TV, which my boyfriend Dave transformed into a good old-fashioned "boob-tube", complete with rounded screen and rabbit-ear antenna! BCD Mom and Dad lent us their DVD of Julia Child's The French Chef (which originally aired in the early 60s) to complete the effect. It was awesome. A custom Pandora Radio station was the final A/V touch (I searched for a record player, but to no avail).

My swingin' pad

Julia as she was meant to be seen!

The other thing that was awesome about this party was that EP and I celebrated our birthdays together for the very first time! With my birthday in February, and hers in July, you can see why we haven't done this before. But since her birthday was RUINED by the bar exam, we postponed her party 8 months and decided to celebrate together-- what a treat! We really did it up this time, and it paid off big-time.

Thanks again to all our friends for playing along and making this such a fun event. Now we're just waiting for the next excuse to throw a party... anyone have a good idea for a THEME??

Happy birthdays to US!!

X

Cena a Milano (or...Dinner at Milan)

by Erin and Xani



Last week, immediately after finishing a (hopefully) winning proposal at work, we crossed town to have dinner in Little Italy at a new, very chic spot called Milan. Our friend Amy (of Profiles, Inc.) had invited us to try this new restaurant** and as usual, greeted us at the door with a smile and lots of guidance on what to order!

First we received a tour of the incredible space, which felt cozy due to dark wood floor and dimmed lighting, but still chic and modern with walls made of glass beads, plus cool chandeliers, huge windows looking out onto Little Italy, and the best part: a private lounge comprised of several rooms with low white couches, flat screen TVs, and arched doorways. This lounge would be perfect for a birthday celebration!


We were seated in the upstairs dining area along with fellow Bmore food bloggers Kit, Liz, and Jessica (great to see you, girls!), and after chatting with Amy for a bit about her recommendations, we studied the menu. While perusing and chatting, we enjoyed a glass of rose prosecco, which was excellent and full-bodied (sometimes they are really sharp and/or sweet, this one was lovely). We also nibbled on some bread and tapenade, but we wanted to save room for the many courses that lay ahead.

Cheers to finishing the proposal! Go team!

We were eager to try a variety of the large menu, including the "Sushi Italiano," which is crudo (raw fish), usually paired with some sort of italian flair such as pesto, olive oil, or a lemon aioli, for instance. For our first course, we enjoyed the 6-fish crudo plate, which featured salmon with lemon caper aioli, hiramasa with a blood orange balsamic glaze, arctic char with a basil pesto, hamachi (yellowtail) with roasted red pepper puree, yellowfin tuna with red pepper oil and sea salt and white tuna with lemon oil and pine nuts.



As if we couldn't eat more raw fish, we also ordered a barely-seared tuna dish that had olive oil, capers, and a yummy micro-green salad topped with our favorite: white anchovies! All of the fish was incredibly fresh and each of their accompaniments went well with the flavor of the raw fish.



For our second course, we tried two of the small plates (mezze) and one salad. The first small plate we tried were the lamb lollipops, which were perfectly cooked (medium rare) grilled baby lamb chops served with a creamy lemon-rosemary aioli.

Next, we ordered something that was one of our favorites of the night: vegetarian meatballs (called Ortaggio Mondeghili). They were made of eggplant, portobello mushrooms, and other veggies, and probably bound together with eggs and maybe breadcrumbs, then served with a delicious pomodoro sauce. It tasted like eggplant parm but in mini, meatball form! So good, we could have eaten a whole big plate of these.



The third member of our second course was the Deviled Caesar Salad, which included a spiced up caesar dressing, white anchovies (again! we love it!), and a very delicious deviled egg on the side. Since it wasn't a classic caesar salad, we will refrain from comparing it to BCD Mom's so we can remain on everyone's good sides :)



Okay, next course was the main course. We got the cioppino (spicy, tomato-based stew with lots of shellfish) and the NY strip, which was served with lobster butter, sauteed spinach, and lobster mashed potatoes. The cioppino was very tasty and had so much delicious seafood in it, including mussels (and the largest mussel we've EVER seen) and head-on shrimp. It was served with a garlicky parmesan bread to soak up the tomato broth - superb!

Largest mussel ever in the left forefront; see regular mussel to the right

The NY strip was, again, perfectly cooked to medium rare and the bits of lobster on top didn't hurt either! The sauteed spinach was a surprising highlight of the dish - it was very garlicky and barely wilted and added some freshness to the decadent plate. The mashed potatoes were the low point of the dish, unfortunately - while they were very creamy, they didn't really taste like lobster, and they were at room temperature, not hot. The spinach and the meat, however, were very strong so the dish was still very enjoyable.



Finally, we enjoyed a little dessert and of course, coffee. People always ask us how we can drink coffee (or espresso, if you're Xani) at the end of the night, but amazingly, it doesn't keep us up! Plus, it's a digestif and it allows you to reflect on the meal before heading home. I love a cup of coffee at the end of a great meal...mmm coffee...

Anyway, for dessert we chose the ricotta cheesecake with a strawberry-balsamic glaze and candied rosemary. The cheesecake was really good - creamy, rich, and a nice thick graham cracker crust on the bottom. The balsamic glaze was unique and added sweetness and tartness to the creamy cake. The rosemary was pretty but not really edible.



What a meal! We teetered back to our car (conveniently parked in the parking garage right next to the restaurant - that is some prime real estate, Milan!), crossed the city back to Federal Hill, and fell asleep with visions of veggie meatballs dancing in our heads.

Thanks, Amy, for inviting us to Milan for a great meal, and for introducing us to the chef and owner. Next time we'll check out the downstairs bar area and try one of the fancy cocktails, and we also need to try the pasta, risotto, and flatbreads - they looked amazing but we couldn't order everything, could we??

Buon appetito,
EP & X

**In compliance FTC Guidelines at 16 CFR Part 255, we hereby disclose that we received our meal free of charge (though we did provide a generous gratuity, obvi). First Amendment? What's that? I'm not familiar.

Birches - I Wish It Were My Neighborhood Pub

by Erin

Last week, I had an appointment to give blood for the first time. I was nervous - what if I pass out? What if they say my blood's no good? What if they don't have cookies?? In an effort to have a good first blood-giving experience, I wanted to have a hearty dinner the night before and lunch the day of. I kept telling everyone I needed to "iron-load" (like carbo-loading before a big game, I guess?), so I made plans with some friends for dinner the night before.

We met up at Birches, an unassuming restaurant in the Canton neighborhood, which until that afternoon, I had never heard of. Birches was recommended by my friend and co-worker Mat, who lives (literally) around the corner, and is a huge fan. I trust Mat's palate - after all, he and I have had multiple discussions about the wonders of cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon or proscuitto.


My friend Max and I walked into Birches on a blustery night (though most of them seem blustery these days, don't they?) and were greeted by the friendly hostess. We asked if our other friends were there, and she said "Oh yeah, Mat's at the bar!" I guess they really do know him there.

We sat in the bar area (we could have sat in the dining area, but the bar was cozy and bustling) and got to perusing the extensive menu. While the menu has many upscale entrees, we were in the mood for pub grub, including their dollar sliders that night. (Sliders have iron, right?) They had two kinds: cheeseburger minis, and buffalo chicken minis. We got a whole mess of them - too many, in fact - but they were outstanding! They were served on toast, and the burger had a little aioli on it, and the chicken had some yummy bleu cheese dressing on it (though not as good as BCD Moms - obvi).






I got a wee side salad of their caesar, which was interesting because the dressing had a lot of balsamic in it, yet it still tasted like caesar. The salad also had caramelized red onion and grilled tomatoes on top, which were a nice touch. Lydia also got a salad (for her main dish), which I don't remember much about except it had spiced popcorn AND fried plantains on top - yum!



Max and Mat also got the cream of crab soup, which was delicious and creamy, with lots of Old Bay and crabmeat. Do you see crab as a theme here?



Arguably the best part of the meal, however, were the fries. They have a whole fry MENU, with 6-8 different fry toppings. We had a hard time deciding what to get but we settled on the "Crabby-Ass fries" and the "Onion fries." We had these as our appetizer, which was a good tactic -- they came out fast and fresh.

Both dishes began with a mountain of freshly cooked fries. The crabby-ass fries were then topped with a creamy crabmeat mixture (mostly crab). Essentially, this was crab dip on fries, but there was WAY more crabmeat than in a typical crab dip. Magnifique!



The onion fries were equally delicious and I appreciated their uniqueness - putting caramelized onions on top of fries isn't that wild of an idea, but I never even heard of it before! So delicious, and totally addicting.



Last, we ordered chocolate cake for dessert. But this wasn't any ol' chocolate cake - they are made to order so we had to order ours when we put in our dinner order. It came out hot and gooey, and had a great chocolate sauce on the bottom (though there was some booze in the chocolate sauce, and I personally felt it wasn't cooked out enough). The ice cream on the side didn't hurt either.



In sum, I truly loved Birches. I wish it were my neighborhood bar for the following reasons: (1) awesome food, (2) great service, (3) cozy atmosphere, (4) they have board games in the bar!, and (5) they are a Terps basketball bar! Could there be a better combo for a restaurant? I will definitely be back...perhaps for the next Terps game!



Thanks for taking us to Birches, Mat!



BFFs...waiting for fries



Lydia enjoys her frites! Sooo delicious...

Oh, and the update on the blood-giving? It went swimmingly. I didn't pass out, and there were cookies - lots of 'em!

Happy blood-giving and iron-loading,
EP

Finally- BOUCHON

by Xani

As the biggest winter snowstorm in years approaches the Baltimore region, I'm thinking back to a warm night a couple weeks ago. I was visiting my dear friend Jenny in Los Angeles, and our trip culminated in a most fantastic meal. We scored a reservation for the new Bouchon in Beverly Hills! And we could not have been more excited.

From the moment we walked into the restaurant, we knew it was going to be an amazing experience (my first Thomas Keller restaurant)! The place is absolutely gorgeous, huge, and super-classy without feeling stuffy. We sat in the main dining room, but spied some cozy little tables on the balcony (next time!)

Then, onto the food. First, a tiny bowl containing warm pistachios and this gorgeous bread arrived, with some soft, salty butter. I've been cutting carbs recently but couldn't resist a small piece of this crusty, warm, heavenly bread. I honestly can't remember a restaurant bread as good as this EVER. TK really knows his baked goods.

Then, some appetizers. Fresh, sweet, delicious oysters. They had 6 or more kinds but this was a sampling of three types of pacific oysters, I believe. Oh, remembering these is making me sad I won't be slurping down oysters at Clipper City Brewery tomorrow (Oysters and Beer event postponed due to snow)-- boop!

We also indulged in this enormous charcuterie platter, with several kinds of cured meats, spicy mustard, and pickled veggies (and more bread-- but we restrained ourselves. We were holding out for something even better...)

Then, the main dishes. We had decided what to order WEEKS before we sat down to this meal. The roast chicken (Keller is legendary for his chicken) and the steak frites- yeah, we were holding out for those fries (also legendary)!!

Both dishes were just... impeccable. Not even the slightest flaw. The chicken was moist, with crisp skin, and served with the most flavorful jus underneath with the vegetables. Top notch. But the real show-stopper was the steak frites. Just perfection. The steak, which was served slathered with hotel butter, was one of the most tender, flavorful, and rich pieces of meat I have ever eaten (and I have eaten some fabulous steaks!!). It was intensely delicious. I don't know how else to describe it. It would make a steak from Outback go and hide in the closet. It was so good, it was the best thing on the table, even beating out the mountain of fries sharing it's plate. IT WAS THAT GOOD. Not that the fries were anything to sneeze at-- these too were some of the best restaurant fries I've had in recent memory. I guess I just have a soft spot for the ones I make at home... but these were damn good. I think Jenny said that a dash of truffle oil wouldn't have hurt these, and I must say, I agree (when did truffle oil ever hurt anyone??).

I'm sorry to say we left without dessert, but did linger over some coffee to take in the surroundings. Bouchon is truly a gorgeous restaurant serving fantastic cuisine. It just makes me that much more sure that a visit to Per Se or The French Laundry, should I ever get to go, would be truly an experience of a lifetime!

Thanks to Jenny for arranging our whole weekend and spending over 20 minutes on hold to get our reservation-- totally worth it!

And to all of you in the area hunkering down for this storm: stay safe, stay warm, and stay put (if possible)!

Happy eating (and happy birthday to ME, tomorrow!)

Xani

Would you like schmaltz with that?

by BCD Dad

This is a story of a visit to Sammy's Steak House, aka Sammy's Roumanian aka Sammy K’s. 157 Chrystie Street, the Bowery, Manhattan, NY.

In the early 1970’s, BCD Dad and Mom were taken by BCD Mom’s parents to Sammy K’s restaurant in the Bowery. That one encounter has become legendary for the family. On many occasions, as Xani and Erin will attest, BCD Mom and I would wax about the tableside bowls of sours, the antique seltzer bottles, the cholesterol-packed dishes, and the eye-opening dispensers of liquid chicken fat (schmaltz). Now comes an opportunity to see if the reality lives up to the legend.


My work has taken me to NYC on multiple occasions in the past year but usually dining out at any place really special doesn’t fit with the busy schedule. This time though, the planets aligned and as our Amtrak Acela train rolled through the tunnel to Penn Station, my two colleagues finally conceded to my suggestion to go to Sammy K’s. It was the dinner hour and the restaurant was on the way to our hotel in Brooklyn.

“You want to stop here?” our incredulous taxi driver comments as we pull up in front of the somewhat dilapidated storefront in the lower East Side that houses the restaurant. We walked down three steps to a smallish room (no more than 50 persons) whose tired walls were covered with photographs and business cards, and for no explicable reason, happy birthday balloons tied to the ceiling and most of the tables.



The wait staff was all male, and all wearing Sammy K tee shirts. But friendly and very patient as we sporadically examined the menu – not lengthy but very different. At the next table, the guests had a bottle of Ketel One Vodka, encased in ice. We bought one of those. And not to give the story away -- we finished it. So, working our way through neat, slightly thickened vodka, we examined the menu. It was wonderful. It was the essence of Jewish Eastern European peasant food. One revelation after another: kreplach, borscht, chicken soup with knaidlach, luction, AND unborn chicken eggs, chopped eggs and onions, chicken fricassee, gribenes (chicken skin cracklings) on everything, kishke, kasha varnishes, stuffed cabbage, grilled sweet breads, mashed potatoes with gribenes and schmaltz, latkes. It was dizzying.



And we kept getting distracted from the menu -- out came the plate of sour pickles and sour tomatoes – out came the freshly baked and heavily crusted rye bread – out came the whole roasted peppers marinated in garlic and oil – out came the seltzer (do you remember Clarabell?) in authentic old-timey spritzer bottles – and (drum roll) --- the syrup dispenser of schmaltz. So, while pouring chicken fat on pieces of crusty bread, we ordered.

Seltzer bottle

Schmaltz.

Everything is a la carte. We elected two appetizers, one main each, and a couple of side dishes to share. Chopped Chicken Livers started the parade. But this was no ice cream scoop on a lettuce leaf. Our waiter brought a sizeable bowl of chopped livers, and along side were plates of shredded white radish, gribenes and, believe it or not, more chicken fat. All this was mixed tableside, to order as it were, and in the best tradition of a Caesar salad presentation. Perfect. My apologies to my wife, my beloved mother and mother in law.



The eggplant salad we picked as a second appetizer was ok. It was expecting the eggplant salad that we make at home (roasted eggplant cold chopped with boiled eggs and onions, served with olive oil, salt, pepper and beer!) but this was a sort of an unimaginative mish mosh. The waiter had discouraged us from the karnetzlach (ground meat, seasoned and grilled on a skewer), and we wanted something a little lighter anyway.

The main courses were principally grilled meats: several cuts of chicken, beef, lamb, veal, and one of my favorites, sweetbreads. We order sweetbreads almost every time they appear on a menu, and because we frequent restaurants that pride themselves on original and often complex presentations, we’ve become used to a little tiny piece of sweetbread with a sauce and various other layers of flavoring. Not Sammy K’s. A dinner plate-sized portion, perfectly grilled and completely unadorned. Not a hint of parsley, no grilled tomato, no nothing. It was very good. I also sampled my colleague’s stuffed cabbage that was tasty but I thought the flavor was timid. Our other partner ordered a rib-steak. I have never seen a rib-steak served with the entire rib-bone attached. Normally the end is cut off and (I think) becomes part of the short-rib. This presentation was about a foot long and hung off the plate. My preference for steak is not the kosher-style. This beef was flavorful but a little tough and overdone for my taste. As you have seen from other BCD posts – steak and roast beef are not trifles for us and we spend a lot of time and effort buying, aging, butchering and cooking beef in a very precise way.







While my colleague’s main dishes didn’t do much for me, the side dishes were precious. Kishke and kasha varnishkes. Kishke is a sort of roasted sausage made with a casing (like sausage) but filled with a highly flavored bread stuffing somewhat like what goes into a roast chicken. The stuffing is a much finer grind and there is a lot of moisture due to the (dare I say it) the chicken fat. Our second side dish was kasha varnishkes. KV consists of cooked buckwheat groats (a grain), combined with bow-tie egg noodles then mixed with salt, pepper and (I am embarrassed to say) chicken fat.





There may have been something green other than pickles on the menu, but I don’t recall seeing it. No salads, no vegetables. (I am exaggerating. I did see a couple of salads and garlic broccoli.)

All during the meal, we were entertained by a fellow with a frightful hairdo, a great synthesizer set up, a great voice (Sinatra, Satchmo, and a collection of Bar Mitzvah and Jewish wedding tunes) and a wonderful sense of humor. A very positive addition to the ambiance.

The vodka is now gone. The plates are clean (we ate everything). And we are content. Just a little Turkish coffee (the kind that’s half mud), tea in a glass, and an on-the-house plate of warm chocolate rugelach pastries and we headed off to the hotel in Brooklyn. Dinner ran about $100/pp including tax and tip in large part due to the vodka. (Did I mention we had a round before we bought the bottle?).





So as far as reminiscences are concerned – we hit the mark on most of the things. Of course my first visit was so long ago that my frame of reference is changed, too. Definitely worth another visit. For both the food and the nostalgia.

DRP