Tartine is a cozy little place on west 11th Street that serves up French fare including a good selection of crepes for each meal of the day.    Arriving for dinner, I settled on the chicken pesto crepe.  It was filling and very affordable.  On the warm summer nights, the best thing is to do is to opt for a table in the back garden if one’s available.  Its a small angular space that comes to a point in the back but the neighborhood sounds and the fresh air are worth it.

Chicken Pesto crepe, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

 Quisical about the Tecate beer…:

Parisian crepe restaurant in Greenwich Village, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

 ***************
Tartine
253 W. 11th St. (at 4th St.)
West Village, New York, NY  10014
Tel.: 212.229.2611

This place is terrible.  Frankly, I think I haven’t been served a worse meal in the past year or more!  Here’s the background story. 

Last night, Aimee & I went to see Catherine Opie give a lecture at the Center on her body of work as it ties into her current retrospective on view at the Guggenheim.  The lecture was great and totally satisfying.  I had never seen Catherine speak before (nor seen her in person) and the room the lecture was held in was the perfect size.  A number of people asked questions after her lecture and she was excited to answer them.  Also, she was both and articulate lecturer (she’s a professor at UCLA) and very approachable.

After the lecture however was a different story.  Our bellies empty from jaunting straight from work to Catherine’s lecture, we were on the hunt for satiating food.  One thought was Two Boots (pizza) which I poo-pooed as I wasn’t exactly feeling like American pizza and as Two Boots was overly casual for what I wanted.  Strolling down the streets near 14th, we eyed Good Restaurant,  A Salt & Battered, Tea & Sympathy, Soy Luck Club and a couple others.  While some of these were tempting, Artepasta seemed the best because of (1) their prices were low and (2) they seemed to offer something that both I and Aimee would like to have.  I saw the caprese pizza with “burrata mozzarella”, basil, extra virgin olive oil and fresh tomato.  Aimee saw the insalata mixta with soppresata (”sopresto”) and “focaccia croutons”.  We entered.

First minor foul note, we were seated in the drafty center section right by the door.  No one else was seated in this section.  And the interior door was propped open in such a way that when a group entered, the draft hit us for a good duration.  Originally we were seated on the end of a long row of empty tables but asked to move over one as we kept getting hit by the waiters as they walked by to the service station right next to our table.  After ordering, we sat there for a good 20 to 30 minutes, the first half of which Aimee spent shivering and eventually put her coat on.  Eventually we had to ask one of the waiters (not ours who was standing idly right by us but not paying attention) to close the interior door.  He complied which was good.

Then, our food arrived.  Now, I had ordered the caprese pizza.  I asked the waiter if it was like the pizza margharita to which he said it was.  I order the pizza in an Italian restaurant.  What arrived was a spongy mess of a “pizza” that layered tomatoes that tasted like they had been frozen, with mounds of generic pre-grated mozzarella cheese (not the fresh Italian bufalo mozzarella).  It was essentially (if not in reality) a frozen microwaved pizza plopped down on my plate!  It was awful!

During the course of the mention (and after we finished…not that our waiters noticed we were finished) our waiter kept sneaking up and spooking Aimee!  Seriously!  He would come up behind her really quickly, wrap the water pitcher around her to her glass and whisper “Is everything ok”.  Ugh.  He even did this (and refilled our water glasses) when we had put our napkins on the table in order to signal we wanted the check.  ergh.  We’re done.  Take our plates away.

At the end of the (long) meal, the (inattentive) waiter brought our change back in such a way that we could only leave him a 21% tip or higher with the change he gave us.  (He left a 1, a 5 and a 10.)  After ultimately flagging down his co-worker (the same co-waiter who closed the interior door for us), we received change for the 5 in order to leave the tip.  Now, I say “flagging down” but that really is a liberal use of the word….  the pack of waiters and the female bartender were all just standing there the whole time in a clump by the waitstation chatting.

***************************
ArtePasta
81 Greenwich Ave (btwn. Bank St & 7th Ave. South)
New York, NY  10021
Tel.: 212-229-0234
Website: http://www.artepastanyc.com/

]]> http://foodcitybytes.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/five-guys/feed/ 0 foodcitybytes http://foodcitybytes.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/marseille/ http://foodcitybytes.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/marseille/#comments Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:26:58 +0000 foodcitybytes http://foodcitybytes.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/marseille/ ]]>

Can you put a bustling French port town in Hell’s Kitchen?

 

Marseille, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

Marseille restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen is a place that I pass by frequently on my trips to and from work.   It opened in this location in 2001.  And, although I have passed it numerous times on my walks to and from work, I had yet to venture in for meal.  A couple years ago, I was considering going to for Restaurant Week but decided upon Aquavit as a reservation slot opened up later during the two week period. Marseille, like its French namesake, the Mediterrean facing port town, features a number of fish entrees including grilled salmon, golden snapper, and the de rigeur moules provencal on the regular dinner menu. However, if you go for brunch, as we did this past weekend, you are treated to a lighter more agrarian inspired selections.

Food City Bytes recently took a trip to Puerto Rico.  Having never gone before, I was pretty excited.  Planning to put my dogs up in the sun, go snorkeling and see what there was to see in Puerto Rico.  We stayed at this fabulous resort that was something of a cross between the settings for Dirty Dancing and The Pirates of the Caribbean.  Half the resort was under “construction” which really meant – since its a down economy – that half the place was under wraps – including the more kid friendly multiple water slides pool complex – until such time as there were more guests.  The under wraps part – with its chain link fence enclosing the pool area and another set of buildings – was the Pirates of the Caribbean part!  We got a room with a balcony, mini kitchen and huge tv overlooking the interior courtyard-esque area that contained two hot tubs, ping pong tables, a volleyball court and a huge angular pool with a water basketball setup.  It was (gaudy-trashy yet) fantastic!  Like Dirty Dancing!

We went three times we went to San Juan.  Having rented a car near the airport, getting around was very simple (aside from the death defying roads!).  This street art piece was on a door in San Juan:

IMG_9789, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

We stoppped at a little cafe in Old San Juan and ordered a couple sandwiches. After I had a large mocha. The whole time this older motorcycle guy was talking to us about what sites to see, where to go driving and about how much he loves Puerto Rico. We got his whole life story. Uber-friendly & equally uber-tourist-positive. He used to work in a hotel in New York somewhere. He had studied hospitality management. But several years back “Puerto Rico was calling (him) back” and he had to return. He’s been there since and went on and on about how much he loves to ride his Harley all over PR. The best part was when he tried to get us to agree with him that you always have to buy women things to keep them happy!

Mocha in Puerto Rico, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

 

We made it to Sweetwater Tavern for brunch this past Sunday after a couple missteps and an accidental side trip to Ikea, Red Hook. I’ve been wanting to go to Sweetwater since I read about it over a year ago. Initially, we thought it’d be closer to the Diner on E. Broadway than it turned out to be.

Sweetwater has: an outdoor area, plethora of hipsters milling over morning drinks and discussing their new ongoing band gigs, and lot of good food on the menu. Here’s the raspberry scone:

IMG_0579, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

The old faux fine china plates were a nice touch.

It was very dry (this is good) except for the top layer where the raspberries were and then the brown sugar on top. It was unclear whether they were mad ein house or delivered earlier in the morning. Aong with the other treats (they were out of the croissonts – chocolate filled and otherwise $1 ea. by the time we arrived – c. 2:45pm), they were up front under a bell jar.

Condiments and completeness were out the window: scone arrived but without butter or jam; coffee arrived but without sugar, milk or a spoon and then it only arrived after a coke(?) that no one ordered arrived first and an order of “iced coffee” (that no one ordered) was cancelled.  At the end, $3 was charged instead of $2 for the coffee althogh the waitress assured us that regular coffee was $3.  It wasn’t; cafe, espresso, latte…  those were $3 as presumeably the iced coffee would have been. 

Here’s the eggs benedict with Salmon, home fries and salad that I ordered:

IMG_0585, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

Surprisingly, there were fried tomatoes under the salmon (which was delicious). The english muffins were an interesting brand too but unfortunately, were a little tough. The eggs too… were not poached so much as actually just completely cooked through. The hollandaise sauce was a win though.

Aimee got the Eggs Supreme which is two poached eggs and ham on grilled bread with avocado and smoked tomato salsa. Aimee said that grilled bread was a nice touch and added flavor but the eggs again weren’t really poached so much as totally cooked through. She said it tasted fine in spite of that and they really did put in a lot of tasty avocado under that piece of lettuce.

IMG_0587, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

Here’s the side view where you can see the avocado poking out. The theory on the eggs is that the wait staff seemed all a little flustered and kept buzzing at one another about how electricity was not working well in certain sections. However, the lights, espresso maker, music etc. were all on and fully functioning up where we were in the front of the restaurant.

IMG_0588, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_0584, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

The ambience in Sweetwater really is nice… there is still the early 20th century tile flooring (highlight as the wallpaper on their website), a long wooden bar, decorations of old rustic equipment and photographs. There were also a number of people, who knew the owner, speaking in Italian.

Plus, added bonus…. on the walk over there, we saw this guy:

Siriano – Project Runway, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

http://z.about.com/d/fashion/1/0/S/-/3/79649592_10.jpg

******************************************
Sweetwater Tavern
105 North 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Website: www.sweetwaterny.com

Ah Prospect Heights, how I adore thee!  Not only do you have one of the hippest and hardest-to-find-no-sign-outside-speakeasy joints to have just opened up, you also have:

(1) James
(2) Abigail

….and what better restaurants to start your summer flings with?!

James is located on the corner of Carlton and St. Marks in the same spot that (R.I.P.) Sorel used to occupy. Pressed tin ceilings and hosting new American fair from the great minds of former Bouley chef, Bryan Calvert and his cohort, Deborah Williamson.  FCB cannot wait to try this one out!

Moving in below the recently (completely gut!) renovated 19th century brick structure on the corner of Classon and St. Johns is Abigail, also new American fair with BYOB so far until the liquor license kicks in (it sounds like).  Camaje – on MacDougal St. – is the sister restaurant.  Say, if we get too tipsy from our BYOB, can we non-teetollers toddle up to the gleaming condos up top of Abigail? 

*********************************
(1) James
605 Carlton Avenue (@ St. Marks Ave. on corner)
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Tel.: 718.942.4255
Website: http://jamesrestaurantny.com/

(2) Abigail
807 Classon Ave (@ St. John’s)
Prospect Heights
Brooklyn, NY  11238
Tel.: 718.399.3200
Website: http://www.abigailbrooklyn.com/ 

IMG_9104, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9077, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9078, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9081, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9078, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9082, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9084, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9087, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9089, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9090, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9091, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9093, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9094, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9095, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9098, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.

IMG_9101, originally uploaded by Brockenbrough Photos.