the manhattan transfer

This recent visit to New York City was full of music, and a good portion of it was nothing but legendary tunes. The first serve came from no other than Bettye LaVette, who was celebrating her fifty years on stage. She was in incredibly good shape, and her dramatic voice was tremendously moving.

Colin Stetson provided a solid performance at The Bitter End; there is no question about his extraordinary lungs.

The last part of our Saturday evening was coronated by the great Macy Gray, who delivered a fabulous show at The Iridium club, together with David Murray's big band.

Roger Hodgson -the voice of Supertramp- played on Sunday and he sounded as clear as if we were back in the late 70s. Hits like "Dreamer" or "Breakfast in America" made this gig at the City Winery a memorable one. 

After a refreshing bottle of Gramona cava, Momofuku Ko was waiting for us to enjoy our best meal in town. Joshua took care for us through an extremely well done menu which included Shigoku oysters from Washington state, caviar from Illinois or txakolí from Euskadi.

Back in Ontarian territories, this month of January kept its musical interest with some additional back-to-the-past moments, even if not that far away. All the way from Seattle, Matt Cameron's primary band rocked Toronto. Soundgarden proved to be real grunge heroes. Dinner at Momofuku Daisho afterwards was a nice ending, but far away from the Ko superb show in Manhattan.

Two days ago, January 29, it was Nelly Furtado, all the way from Victoria (BC), playing her cavaquinho at Centre In The Square. A really different show from the one I saw with Lynn during a sunny afternoon in Glastonbury nine years ago...

brooklyn calling

I can't remember my first trip to Brooklyn, so I guess I wasn't very impressed at the time. Last week was different. The colourful landscape together with the old decaying architecture made it feel much more special, including the captivating street art. I particularly fell in love with this tank and its "Corporate America" flag.

After telling Ross I wanted to visit the Mast Brothers chocolate factory, he suggested having lunch at La Superior, a modest place on Berry St., where we initiated an admirable Mexican style digestion, served by Catalan hands.

Nothing better than a margarita to focus my brain on this brand new BrookMex experience.

An eclectic list of tacos was the centre of attention for both of us: Chorizo Toluqueño, Rajas y Hongos (roasted poblano peppers and mushrooms with epazote, grilled), Cochinita Pibil (slow cooked pork in banana leaves), Pescado Zarandeado (non-fried fish, topped with pico) or Taco de Lengua were some of the most intriguing ones.

Chorizo Toluqueño happens to be house made -from scratch- sauteed chorizo with serrano peppers. A beautiful one to stare at for a little while.

Our last stop was off Berry St. Not even thirty metres away we found Mast Brothers headquarters; some sort of relaxing chocolate heaven.

an amazing red tomatoe

Monday was the day for our best lunch in Manhattan. The food, the wine, the service, the space and the company at Rouge Tomate contributed to this fine two hour winter experience.

The building itself was an impressive piece of architecture. One more time I started with oysters, in this case coming all the way from New Brunswick. The pomegranate mignonette, crispy ginger and cilantro sauce was brilliant.

Pascaline, our French sommelier, was kind enough to bring for us an unusual glass of 1989 Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris -kind of old champagne-, plus a glass of Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay, both of them far away from our radars.

Later on we moved onto an interesting Pinot Noir, the first one I ever had from Oregon, which turned out to be a very nice one: The Eyrie Vineyards, 2009 Pinot Noir Reserve from the Original Vines. Apparently this is the first Pinot Noir vineyard ever planted in the state of Oregon.

Lynne chose a delicious black winter truffle risotto with wild mushrooms, Carnaroli rice, parmesan and squid ink, while Long Island duck a la plancha was the other main on both ends of the table, Tony's and mine.

Our thirst was managed with a remarkably elegant bottle of sparkling water by Mayim.

An element that caught my attention was the beautifully designed wood stair case heading down to the rest rooms.

Dessert was coming and it didn't take us very long to make it disappear: a Meyer lemon bomb sorounded by pomegranate, chamomile mouse and pine nut brittle.

the big holy apple

What a great destination to start the year in full swing. I never seriously thought I could enjoy the US of America this much.

But let's face it, from the sad Offtarian perspective of things, we can easily say we are only 82 minutes away from urban paradise, depending on the tail winds of the day.

Even the two hot dogs we had from Dickson's Meats in the Chelsea market were surprisingly tasty.

For a moment I had the impression we were back in Woollahra, at Victor Churchill's, but without all the fancy decor. We tried both their duck and their goose rillette; the two birds were rather palatable.

Next time we may have to go for their beef pastrami; one of the really tempting products on display.

The opportunity to find interesting wines, outside of the LCBO tyranny which decides the wines Ontarians can drink or cannot, felt like a total liberation. 

Not only I was able to find interesting American wines, but also deliciously unique Albariños like a 2011 Pedralonga or a 2006 Zárate "El Palomar". The Aussie and Kiwi selections were not too exciting.

These were the recent American discoveries: 2008 Eyrie "Original Vines" Pinot Noir from Dundee Hills in Oregon, 2008 Cristom Jessie Vineyard Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, 2010 Sea Smoke "Southing" Pinot Noir from Sta. Rita Hills, 2008 Mount Eden Cebernet Sauvignon from the Santa Cruz mountains and 2009 Gemstone from St. Helena in California.

The Mast Brothers shop was a must, and it made sense to bring back home a few chocolate bars. Their black truffle is definitely worth a trip to Brooklyn.

our meringued epiphany

This weekend we visited aunt Eleanor, who last Wednesday got a brand new computer. One of those made in China, but designed in California. This time we even got to see a red cardinal in her backyard.

She cooked for us a great dinner concluding with a fabulous meringue desert, she also made herself. Yesterday she gave us two generous boxes of them, and this morning they logically became part of my breakfast. 

Together with a nice cup of Australia's T2 Blue Mountain tea and a cold drip made with Proud Mary's Guatemala beans, which we brought in our last trip to the exuberant Victorian lands.

Two remarkable local ingredients: Voisin's maple butter, coming from a place called Formosa, not in the Caribbean. And peaches from the Niagara region, which added to this extraordinary symphony of flavours. We luckily  got a nice allocation of them.

It's been snowing all day; Canadian winters are not a joke. The three wise men would have never made it here on their camels, what probably was a good thing for the natives.