FOODYHOLIC'S Choice: A BIRTHDAY DINNER AT MAIALINO'S

FOODYHOLIC'S Choice: A BIRTHDAY DINNER AT MAIALINO'S

A BIRTHDAY DINNER AT MAIALINO'S

Last week, we celebrated a good old friend's special birthday at Maialino's.  I have always wanted to try this restaurant since I popped in  two years ago while waiting for my customer to arrive.  The restaurant just opened at the Gramercy Park Hotel where major upgrades and renovation had just been finished.  I checked out the menu and the decor and immediately wrote this restaurant in my list to try.

Fortunately, our friend had invited us for his birthday celebration. Danny Meyer is a New York City Restaurateur and Maialino's is his restaurant; among others such as Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and Shake Shack; all of which I like!  Maialino is a Roman Italian restaurant.  He chose Nick Anderer as his executive Chef who worked as a sous chef at Gramercy Tavern.

For the birthday celebration, we were given a private room with a long table for 20 people.

While waiting for the guests, came some appetizers:

This was ramps on Italian bread from Sullivan Bread (my favorite bread purveyor in the City)

On the left were mushrooms with a delicious puree.

On the right was tuna belly with carrots on top.







On the left is the grilled asparagus wrapped in prosciutto on a bed of finely grated parmigiana cheese



OUR MENU FOR THE EVENING

After 4 Appetizers while we waited for everyone to arrive; we were now ready to sit and enjoy the dishes of the menu above.

(1)  CARCIOFINI FRITTI - Fried Artichokes with Anchovy Sauce on the side
(I highly recommend!  The anchovy was so mild and smooth that I could not even taste the hint of anchovy)



PRIMI:  MALFATTI AL MAIALINO - Suckling Pig Ragu & Arugula
(This was very good. )

SECONDI:  SPEZZATINO D'AGNELLO Braised Lamb, Taggiasca Olives & Spinach

SPIGOLA RIGATA Roasted Striped Bass, Fingerling Potatoes, Orange & Fennel

DOLCI (Dessert):  TORTA DELLA NONNA - Pine Nut Tart & Lemon Caramel
PANNACOTTA - Ricotta Custard & Red Wine Poached Pear

I highly recommend trying out this restaurant.  And should you want to have a private party in the future, not only will you have the ambiance, you will also enjoy a delicious meal!

Temperature Conversion - Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, Réaumur, and Rankine

For those of you who would like to cook the recipes I have given in my food blog website and would like to convert the temperatures indicated in my recipes; click below to link you where you could easily make the conversions!

Temperature Conversion - Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, Réaumur, and Rankine

HARDBOILED EGGS' SECRET

Tis the season for painted eggs.  Above are not painted eggs but are either heirloom green and brown eggs with quail eggs.  I think Easter has become a symbol of Spring because of the birth of new things after a long dead winter.  It symbolizes new life.  This tradition has been linked to the belief of life after death which Christians believe in.

You can cook them hardboiled and use them for decoration.

Recommendations on how to make the perfect hardboiled egg:
1) Leave eggs at room temperature - at least 1 hour before cooking
2) In a 1 quart size pot, fill with water 3 inches deep.
3) Place about 6 eggs at the bottom of the pot and bring the water to boil at medium heat.
4) Boil for about a minute then turn heat off to let eggs sit for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the eggs you used. (Quails are half the time or large eggs)
5) Transfer eggs with slotted spoon to a bowl of iced water so it's easy to peel
6) When cool, tap eggs to crack shell and peel

Now you can eat them as is or make deviled eggs!

Less Shoes, More Sashimi

Less Shoes, More Sashimi
It's about time gourmet restaurants come in to this area on 8th Street just west of Fifth Avenue.
I can't wait to try them!

EMPELLON COCINA

Empellon Cocina is an upscale nuveau Mexican food that emanates haute cuisine with flavors of Mexico.  The ambiance is definitely trendy and the music is definitely rock and hip.  Chef Alex Stupak formerly from Alinea and WD-50 is the chef and founder of this new upscale restaurant located in the East Village. The ingredients are definitely Mexican integrated with elements of high culinary arts.

The dishes are meant to be shared (tapas style) and the suggestion is to have 5-6 dishes for 2.

Below:  A brief video to establish the sounds from this restaurant:

Here are the dishes we tried:

Grilled mini carrots with mole sauce

Left:  Ruby Red Shrimp with crispy masa, sea urchin (uni) mousse and lettuces.  This has a very delicate flavor.  The sea urchin mousse is at the bottom.

On the right is a gordita dish.  As you can see, it's not your average version.

MELTED TET ILLA CHEESE WITH LOBSTER FRITO AND KOL
(Kol - Yucatan style white sauce)
THIS WAS OUR FAVORITE.  It reminds me of a quesadilla since you have to scoop
the cheesy sauce into your freshly made tortillas.

Pictured on the left:  Squid with heirloom potatoes, chorizo, mayonnaise and black mole.  (Their mole is made with chilliuacle negro plus 29 other ingredients)

LAMB SWEET BREAD served with chorizos (their version).
Another favorite of ours that we highly recommend to order.

And to conclude our dinner, for dessert, we chose the Vanilla Marquesote above.  It was served with paper thin slices of caramelized dry oranges, Pilloncillo cafe con leche ice cream.  It's a "vanilla" cake based dessert.  The crumbly thing you see is like crushed toasted buttered-sugar granola.  (It probably isn't but if I were to make my version of this dessert that's what I'd do - sort of a knock-off copy of the dessert?).

http://www.yelp.com/review_share/oIr_P8xlpPtIoWzb-WfhhQ/review/tvReQtIXwV25XmD8NJ-2cg?fsid=7BcfiYs3SPPjlP7f453I9w

Empellon Cocina

105 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003

SPINACH SALAD

Actually, this should really be called - the salad dressing.  But because I used it with spinach, I've called this the spinach salad recipe.

Since the avocado is healthy for you, I've decided to make this spinach salad with avocado.  It's easy and you can make it your main lunch.  This serves 2 side dish salads or 1 main course salad.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups baby spinach cleaned
1 Avocado
1/4 c blue cheese or creamy ranch dressing
2 TB crumbled feta cheese
1 clove garlic
2 TB mayonnaise
2 TB buttermilk
1-2 slices of cooked bacon chopped (preferrably sodium nitrate free)

Combine the dressing, garlic, mayonnaise and buttermilk with the garlic pressed over the mixture in a small bowl or large cup.  Set aside until ready to use.

When ready, place the spinach on a serving bowl (individual), top with slices of avocado and feta cheese.  Sprinkle the bacon on top.  Spoon the dressing over and serve.

Easy for lunch, or dinner.  You can use the dressing for a cob salad.  Simply add some hard boiled egg slices, chopped lettuce, some defrosted corn kernels if you don't have a fresh one.  For a main meal, you can add cooked shrimp or pieces of left over roast or boiled chicken.

http://www.avocadocentral.com/nutrition/avocado-nutrition-health-facts-label