TASTE OF FRANCE

Yes, it's Taste of France in NYC once again.  It's Sunday and in its 2nd day and I finally made it.  It seems a bit more organized than last year.  This is a much better venue.

They have several booths that deal beyond food but I am here for the food.

The lines are decent.  Price for food vary between 9 Marianne's or $9.

Above my turbot over artichokes is being dished out:

And is served with lobster sauce - with actual pieces of lobsters.  Really light and not overdone.

 Above is the Steak Au Poivre.  That's the green peppercorn sauce the French usually have when they do their steak.  This meat is tender and juicy.  It's served with potatoes - first mashed then shaped and deep fried or oven roasted.

She demonstrated an apple tart that had a lightly crisped top of layers of thin dough sprinkled with sugar.  The layer of apples had a little Armagnac.

This was free from the baking demonstration.

With mini shows and cooking demonstrations, Taste of France won't be complete without the Theee Musketeers! 

Benoit New York

Benoit New York

This is one of my favorite French restaurants in NYC.  Authentic French bistro owned by Michelin star Alain Ducasse

CRAVE FISH BAR

For lunch I'm having their fish tacos.

Fried fish with sautéed cabbage, cilantro, scallions and Mexican cheese.  Served with their own hot sauce.

Definitely light and good value.  Served at lunch time.

This is located on Second Avenue between 50th and 51st street.

But the real deal is between 5-7PM, M-F where all oysters are $1.

#DOUGH'SSANT - From Chikalicious

http://www.chikalicious.com/
The lines are too long and the cronuts always gone before noon at the original bakery Dominque Ansel?  The next best thing is to go to Chikalicious in the East Village.  They have their version of the coveted Cronuts of Dominique Ansel.

Above is the picture of their DOUGH'SSANT.  A cross between a donut and croissant filled with cream.  It comes in chocolate too but I happen to prefer the brûlée.

Above is the DOUGH'SSANT cut up showing the layers filled with custard.  The outside is crisp like a kouign-aman which I featured in my blog earlier this year. The brûlée is made if sugar that they torched so the dark burnt parts make an interesting taste.

The other day while I was in Koreatown, I happened to have stopped by a Korean-French pastry shop where I came across their version of a  cronut as well. 

Above at Paris Baguette at Koreatown, they call their cronut-copy CROISSANT DONUT. I bought one as well to try.

The CROISSANT DONUT when cut up has layers like a croissant, flakey, and filled with vanilla custard inside.  The difference I noticed is that the Chikalicious version has a softer center layer, and taste more buttery than the copy from Paris Baguette.

The two above may be the best copies of the cronut.  It's interesting that they respect Dominique Ansel by not calling their versions cronuts - which I believe is fair because the cronuts were originally conceived and made by Dominque Ansel.

Five days before, I went out of my way after a friend said I must go to this cafe on Mott Street in SoHo because they claim to have cronuts. (I will not mention the name).

I tried their " cronut".  To my super disappointment, it was nothing but a giant stale donut at $5.  After one sliced piece, we concluded that it wasn't worth the sugar to consume. I went to pay at the counter and brought the "cronut" back.  When I was asked if I needed to wrap it up; the person behind the counter got mad when I said no because we didn't like it at all.  He took the donut back and told us not to pay.  But he was angry while we were relieved.

Moral of this story: Unless  you've tried the cronuts, don't assume you've come close to making one to sell.

My take as a foodie: I think that the kouign-aman and a cronut are very close.  To me, cronuts are like kouign-aman with filling and shaped like a doughnut or donut. And since a kouign-aman is like a heartier croissant with sugar glaze to make a crispy crust, shaping it like a donut with a hole in the center can become a cronut.

CHIKALICIOUS

203 East 10th St., NYC, NY

PARIS BAGUETTE

6 W 32nd Street, NYC, NY

DOMINIQUE ANSEL

189 Spring St., NYC, NY

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Delicious Tuna Lunch

I opted to buy this high end quality Del Bocarte selected white tuna from Spain for my lunch today.

Served with fresh squeezed lemon juice, capers with Dean & DeLuca house baked baguette warmed up about 7 minutes in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit makes a perfect sublime easy lunch.

I made an arugula frisée, with fennel salad to accompany this treat!

Use quality products and it still won't amount to a restaurant cost of this calibre when you figure around an average of 25% for tax and gratuities.

I have the other half for tomorrow!

8 TURN crepe - Japanese

Just opened Aug 1 on Spring St.

Crepes served like ice cream cones!

Healthy salad!

Eight Turn Crepe

55 Spring St, New York, NY

(212) 334-3408

Saturday 9:00 am – 11:00 pm

PEKING DUCK HOUSE

One of my favorite restaurants in the city for group dining is The Peking Duck House in in New York City in Mott Street, Chinatown.  Their duck is consistently moist with crispy skin and the price is the most reasonable in town.

In fact, you can either order it ala carte at $48 (for a whole duck good for 2-4)or prix-fixe price with choice of 4-6 entrees for a special $31/person!  Details in their menu.

You may eat the sliced duck using traditional method of wrapping it with crepe-like pancakes with scallions and cucumber and sauce; or you can order Chinese fried rice separately to eat it with.  Either or, if you like duck as well as I do, you will enjoy it here!

PEKING DUCK HOUSE

 Mott Street, New York, NY

1-212-227-1810

SWEET CHICKS for Fried Chicken and Waffles

Back here again! Feather light crisp waffles served with 3 butters and crispy brined fried chicken of your choice of parts.

The chicken with waffles is offered at the same price during the week with free drink.

Have their kale salad with their homemade bacon and kale.

And don't forget to try their homemade sticky bun that has caramelized or burnt cream on top.

#SWEET CHICK

164 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11249

1-347-725-4793

What a deal on OYSTERS!

From 5-7PM all oysters in the menu are $1 each, Monday through Friday only.  Compare it with their regular price!

Below is what I chose pictured above:

What a deal! 

We decided to have fish as our main course.  I ordered the grilled scallops with puréed corn, baby eggplant and fresh sorrel.  I highly recommend it than my friend's order of halibut with curried garbanzo beans. (She wasn't a fan of it either)

Above is my grilled scallops

Above was my friend's halibut.

Not to be missed, pictured above was my puréed cauliflower soup with grilled cauliflower and fried oysters!  Delicious!

I am very happy to count this restaurant as one of my go-to places that I highly recommend - it's in my neighborhood. 

The photo above is the second floor balcony where we sat.  A little bit noisy but you'll get  used to it.  Anyway, with the place buzzing by 8:30, consider the noisy street as waterfall noise backdrop.  You learn to tune out the noise and enjoy the beautiful weather outside.

CRAVE

945 2nd Avenue, New York, Ny

646-895-9585

www.cravefishbar.com