Cafe Ghia

Since our move to Queens, the first few weeks were spent unpacking boxes and trying to figure out what goes where. On another note, Lauren and I had been trying to meet over the past several weeks - if it wasn't this 

it was that, 

that got in our way. 

So this Sunday we met at Cafe Ghia, 

through the light rain 

the walk from 

the L train, 

the wide grey streets of Bushwick, 

colors of various murals

on the sides of warehouses,

buildings,

Another cool

Grey spring Day.

Café Ghia is owned by Bushwick residents Scott McGibney and Anna D'Agrosa and is named after Scott's 1970 Karmann Ghia, purchased when he was sixteen, which he still drives. The cafe itself is a cozy square shaped room fully packed during brunch and alive with the Bushwick scene. 

24 Irving Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Tel:718 821 8806

At a Calvados competition

The last time I was asked to explain Calvados, it was to a well known food editor and critic. My answer was not what it should have been because the next day I was shown a tweet by a co-worker, 'Calvados is an apple brandy aged in oak casks.' As simple as that.

Coming back to the Barclay and the Calvados competition, I attended a Calvados event in which ten bartenders: 5 students from the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) and 5 professional  bartenders were competing.  The two winners, one from each category, would be flown to France to compete in the international competition in Normandy this April.  

Simply put, Calvados is a spirit distilled from apple cider (sometimes pears can be included) and comes from the French region of lower Normandy. This apple cider can come from over 200 different varieties of apples that are grown specifically for cider by Calvados producers. Calvados can be single- or double-distilled. The double-distilled variety is regulated by the French AOC of Pays d'Auge and is more labor intensive and hence more expensive. This doesn't necessarily mean that it is in any way superior to the single-distilled Calvados which at times is just as delicious and complex.

With a dizzying variety of over 70 types of Calvados, The Barclay Bar at the InterContinental New York Barclay, was awarded the title of Exemplaire, or “Calvados Ambassador” on April 2, 2012, in Caen, France. The Bar was further honored as the “First Calvados Bar” in the United States by France’s Association for Cider Appellations, the IDAC, or Interprofession des Appellations Cidricoles. 

Rooftop Garden & Honey Tasting

To view New York city as an urban jungle, a fast moving yet enigmatic fusion of concrete, high rises, commerce, technology and culture would be the prerogative of the average visitor or resident. And if one looks above, ventures high atop tall roofs and amidst majestic buildings there are surprisingly pleasing vistas of green.

At the Inter Continental Barclay hotel in NY it's all about 'bee-ing.' Four colonies of honey bees arrived on the hotel's 15th floor rooftop sometime in mid 2011. These colonies or hives help pollinate the hotel's herb and fruit garden and the flora of the hotel's midtown neighborhood. The honey that is produced is used in a variety of ways from culinary infusions at the Barclay Bar & Grill to candles for guest amenities. The kitchen where we watched the extraction of honey from the hotel's beehives and where honey extracted from different parts of the city was sampled by us, has been extended to the NYC beekeeping organization to use for honey harvesting and bottling. "The main reason to introduce beehives is to shoulder our share of responsibility in helping to keep our urban ecosystem as healthy as possible," says General Manager Herve Houdre.

The hotel is powered by 100% wind energy and striving to make the hotel as eco-friendly as possible, the Barclay has a waste management program which includes composting and reduced paper consumption. Is this the future of the urban world? In times when we are experiencing extreme changes in our weather patterns, an ecosystem which has been deeply affected by human consumption and waste...are we devising ways to control and sustain our natural resources? I'm highly positive and looking forward to such steps being implemented throughout cities around the world.

 111 East 48th Street,
 New York, NY
 Tel: 212 755-5900

The NoMad Hotel

The NoMad hotel named for it's location in the neighborhood around Madison park was suggested by Mr. RY for our much neglected rendezvous. RY and I had worked together at Seasonal, an Austrian restaurant in New York and I will always remember heated debates on wine, restaurants or the virtues of peppermint vs mint tea.

This particular afternoon the heat was more weather related as we sat in the beautiful library inside the hotel sipping a perfectly made mochachino and some Puerrh tea. The hotel which opened about a year ago has been designed by French interior designer Jacques Garcia who has mixed 17th- and 18th-century references with modern influences recalling his youth spent in Paris. Chef Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison has created a menu which centers around his travels spent throughout Switzerland, California, and New York City.  A place for rest amidst the shopping paradise of Broadway, the library at the NoMad proved to be an idyllic space where even biscotti took on a delicate fervence.


1170 Broadway, New York
Tel: (212) 796-1500

The Shop at The Andaz Hotel

After gleefully obtaining my copy of Steig Larsson's 'The Girl who Played with Fire' and Henning Mankell's 'Man from Beijing' within an hour or so of frantically searching almost every book shelf on the ground floor of the NY Public Library, I walked out onto 5th avenue and a block later into a set of large Mahogany doors. 'Andaz' a word (both Hindi and Urdu) means style or an expression of style, in music, in language and in one's way of living. In this case each Andaz boutique hotel under the umbrella of the Hyatt chain in New York or London is a unique experience of a particular neighborhood and it's history.

For some reason this afternoon my craving for tomato soup was quite powerful.  I decided to put the restaurant to my tomato soup test. You know if tomato soup from a restaurant menu can taste fantastic everything else will be even better. I took the risk and with the first spoonful made up my mind: the best tomato soup in New York city is served at The Shop at the Andaz Hotel.

Tomato Soup $ 10
Lemonade $ 4
Tax $ 1.24
Total $ 15.24


485, 5th Avenue
New York, NY
Tel: 212-601-1234

Rouge Tomate

I had often wondered in the past couple of years or so as to what?? had replaced Nicole Farhi's retail store and fantastic restaurant. Today after a pleasure filled sojourn at Barney's, browsing through the latest in shampoos and perfumes, I was going to find out.

The first Rouge Tomate opened in 1999 in Brussels and in 2008 in New York, a concept based on the belief in creating a socially responsible company by the Belgian entrepreneur Emmanuel Verstraeten. With it's balanced approach to sourcing, preparing and enhancing food, based on a charter called SPE (Sanitas Per Escum) and with the aid of a brilliant kitchen and front of the house staff, Rouge Tomate NY won it's first Michelin star in 2010. The kitchen follows the market/farm/ to table trend that has hit New York city with a storm in this past decade. The difference here is that Rouge Tomate's food is also overseen by an in house culinary nutritionist who collaborates closely with the executive chef and the executive pastry chef to ensure that each dish is the perfect balance between seasonal cuisine and optimal nutrition. The beverage department is just as important as the food department, all the cocktails and non alcoholic cocktails are based on fresh produce and mixed in a separate glass encased juice room. The eclectic and continuously developing wine list is over seen by Pascaline Lepeltier whose advocacy of natural and bio dynamic wines is reflected on her wine list and on the many different personalities of the wine world that visit her on a daily basis. You can have a good or great chef in the kitchen but without a fantastic or imaginatively constructed wine list you are still just another restaurant in the New York city list of over 10,000 restaurants.

At this particular meal the Rabbit Agnolotti dish was my favourite item, and I was quite wowed by the presentation of the imaginatively concocted non alcoholic seasonal cocktails.


10 East 60th Street
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 646 237-8977

The Chatwal

In New York there is such an abundance of cafe's, restaurants, bars and bistros that many of us do tend to miss the hospitality aspect of the many hotels that abound in this city. This could be the reason why the Chatwal hotel, it's bar or even its top notch restaurant 'The Lambs Club' are far from the radar of most avid restaurant goers.

A dramatically re-envisioned "baby grand" hotel, the Chatwal has been restored and modernised by the architect Thierry Despont, a graduate of the acclaimed Beaux-Arts in Paris. Despont is an architect and interior designer, decorating houses for corporate barons, billionaires and fashion tycoons. Hence the Chatwal located in the heart of midtown is described as a 'glamorous toast to the golden age of travel.' The main entrance leads to a small but incredibly beautiful art deco lobby which also serves as a bar and cafe. Once inside the hotel, you are greeted by a tranquil oasis away from the humdrum of midtown traffic.

The usual hum of
afternoon business meetings
and the quiet sounds
from the reception.
The perfect place
for my rather
late afternoon cappuccino.

128 West 44th Street
New York, NY
Tel: (212) 764-6200

Dovetail

Having listened to Mr. Richard Y extolling the virtues of this restaurant for the past 6 months, Dovetail became the predetermined end to an afternoon spent at the Museum of Natural History. A few short blocks from the museum, Dovetail was started 3 years ago by John Fraser whose pedigree includes the French Laundry in Napa Valley and the revered Tailevent and Maison Blanche in Paris. Chef and proprietor John Fraser has built his reputation over the years for his classical European technique and a dedication to artisanal products.

As tonight was a Monday, dinner featured a choice of vegan or vegetarian menu options besides the a la carte menu. Vegetarian options have become very 'in' in the New York restaurant scene and many quality conscious restaurants have adopted this philosophy. Hopefully this trend will lead to fresh vegetables and produce becoming more popular in grocery stores and homes across the US other than suspicious meat products, canned goods, processed foods, coke and pizza. The wine list also recognises a comprehensive sherry menu alongside an extensive by the bottle list which happily features a number of quality wines under $50.00. A restaurant for chefs, sommeliers and people that appreciate the finer details, Dovetail cannot by a margin be labelled as trendy or as a passing fancy. Where most chefs and owners pander to ratings and unconsciously let their customers or various critics dictate the tastes on their menus, Dovetail is by large an exception.

103 West 77th Street
New York, NY
Tel: 212 362-3800

Prune

Besides consorting with Jinn, finding the lost ring of Solomon, flying on a magic carpet to the ancient city of Baghdad, I want to bathe in the delicate fragrance of Mosels.

Mosel, or Mosel- Saar- Ruwer since 1875 is a region of Germany known for winemaking under some of the most arduous conditions. Since the designation of 2007, the region is now only known as the Mosel. This area where the steepest slate covered slopes are planted with almost 100 percent Riesling, is particular to natural wine growing techniques and the uniqueness of terroir. Known for an incredible range of acidity and sweetness, the expressive qualities from Mosel Riesling include femininity, briskness and incredible delicacy. I met Mr. M, a purveyor of fine Mosels at Prune in the Lower East side where we went through 5 different Mosels and a Spatburgunder. Sitting in a cosy corner of the restaurant with the traffic
of the outside world
outside,
I forgot all about Bartimaeus,
my beloved Jinn.

Prune, an American bistro found in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is well known for it's food influenced with multicultural influences, an amazing wine list, weekend brunch and some rather good pork braised in octopus broth.

4 E 1st St # 1
New York, NY
Ph: 212 677-6221