restaurant week diary: mercer kitchen

Last Thursday, we celebrated Alida's birthday (for the Nth time ... more to come!) by indulging in a Restaurant Week dinner at Mercer Kitchen. I'd only once walked into The Mercer Hotel before, back when I was a wee PR intern delivering jewelry to Ali Larter (I still haven't seen her on TV or in any movie until now, so I'm still holding on to that awe). I remember thinking it was one slick space, so I was quite curious to try Mercer Kitchen. Have to say, I quite loved the ambience. It's everything that you'd imagine a New York restaurant to be.

The food was pretty amazing too! Me being my odd-food-loving self, I zeroed in on the raw tuna pizza with wasabi cheese for my starter. I ordered it more for the experience than the expectation of getting amazing food, but thankfully I got both. The paper thin slices of raw tuna were very fresh and the wasabi cheese delivered scintillating zaps of heat sporadically while you ate. Keeping with the sushi theme, there were even thin slices of ginger atop the pizza. The julienned veggies add a nice crisp touch. Ali picked shrimps steamed on mixed greens with champagne vinegar dressing. I'm sure it was good but I was too preoccupied with my pizza to find out.

I thought I'd go the haute fastfood route and order a chi chi burger to go with my chi chi pizza. Shoush picked the slowly baked salmon with brussels sprouts and truffle vinaigrette that I was ruminating on. I've also developed a liking for brussels sprouts so I almost ordered it, but when I saw that all she got was that measly mound, I was glad I skipped it. She thought that they had a heavy hand with the salt for her dish. But I think they earned back some points with the luscious mashed potates surrounded with decandent truffle vinaigrette. Alida spoke highly of her juicy roasted chicken—which is something considering Ali is from Peru, a.k.a. the land of awesome roasted chicken. My burger was quite good, but my appetite is just not what it used to be! As I struggled to get halfway through my entree, Ali said, "That burger is kicking your ass."

I eventually gave up on finishing the burger and concentated all of my remaining willpower on dessert. I ordered the exotic fruit salad with vanilla-white pepper ice cream. Exotic is not a word to be used liberally in a party of three with one Peruvian, one Filipina, and one Armenian so we were not quite impressed with the so-called "exotic" fruit selection. But I did like the unconventional vanilla-white pepper ice cream (see now that's exotic). Mostly I was just pleased to have something light and refreshing after such a heavy meal. The girls ordered the warm Valrhona chocolate cake with caramel ice cream. Really, how can you go wrong with that?

Overall, I would still rank Mercer Kitchen among my top 5 Restaurant Week meals. The ambience of the place was pure sexiness, the crowd was sophisticated and cosmopolitan without being pretentious, and that tuna-wasabi cheese pizza is a dish I'll not soon forget. Definitely highly recommended for those heating up second dates!

Mercer Kitchen is located at 99 Prince Street (at Mercer Street), New York, NY 10012. Tel. (212) 966-5454

restaurant week diary: ilili

So ... I had this fun night all planned out. Was gonna go to Williamsburg to dance it up at Rose Land Music, where my friend Monica's beau DJ JKriv (of Tortured Soul fame) and Lou Teti were doing the first of many Deep & Disco nights to come. But my fun evening got cut short with this:  

I've developed a weakness for bone marrow. When I was growing up in the Philippines, I wasn't this crazy about bulalo, our local dish of bone marrow soup. But it's life's cruel joke, I guess, that you develop a liking for crazy fatty things just when you get to the age when you're supposed to start watching your health. In any case, I am now a bonafide bone marrow lover. So yesterday, when I sat down for Restaurant Week dinner at Ilili with Jammy, Sancho and Nina, I just went for it. And thus, my downfall. But first, let me tell you about the meal ...

I was unconscionable with my ordering. Ilili's prix fixe dinner includes two appetizers, one entree and a dessert. I went for the bone marrow AND veal sweetbreads for appetizers, then had the gall to order lamb chops ($7 supplement) for my entree. The bone marrow was served with small pita pillows that you can break apart and stuff with the unctuous bone marrow fat for a hedonistic little bite. The sour cherry tabbouleh on the side was nicely tart and fresh, and a great respite from all the greasiness—but that salad is a bit of an enabler, IMO, because then you feel refreshed enough to dive back into the fat. It's a vicious cycle.

The veal sweetbreads were also delicious. The exterior was crunchy and the inside succulent. I loved that they were cradled in crunchy lettuce cups and sprinkled with slices of kabiss turnips because it kept the richness of the sweetbreads at bay. Again, the lettuce were just enablers though because it made me wolf down two pieces of sweetbreads. Sigh. Other delicious appetizers were the addictive baba ghannouj and the steamed clams soaked in Harissa butter goodness. Sancho also ordered lamb sausages but I never got to that since I had more than enough food to deal with ...  

Along with our appetizers, we were given a complimentary taste of Chateau Kefraya's wine. Ilili is showcasing a different Lebanese wine every week until February 21, so diners who are doing the Restaurant Week menu get a free pour. The red wine we were served was nice and drinkable, though not complex enough for my liking. I did get a glass though ($9) to go with my lamb chops. I'm not sure if the lamb chops were nothing out of the ordinary or I was just too full by then. But we all agreed that the appetizers were more noteworthy than the entrees. Nina had black cod, Sancho had the Ilili burger, and Jammy had the duck kebab.

It turns out that this $35 prix fixe dinner is served year-round, not just on Restaurant Week. But what I wasn't crazy about was their rule that the entire table needs to do the prix fixe. It was really way too much food for us, plus we weren't able to order some things that we were really curious about from the a la carte menu because we were just way too stuffed. The duck shawarma will have to wait another day ...

I would love to come back there to enjoy their happy hour. It goes from 5:30 to 7:30 from Monday to Friday, and they have a pretty sweet selection of cocktails for just $7 and appetizers starting at $5. I had The Fresh Meadow, which is a refreshing concoction of gin, elderflower liquor, mint, ginger and cucumber. What I want to have next time though is the potent From Beirut with Passion: a sneakily delicious mix of basil-cilantro-mint infused vodka and sparkling passion fruit. You can check out the happy hour menu here.

One more Restaurant Week post to come and then we'll resume to regular programming. My friend Céline was begging me to put up more fashion posts because the food posts as of late just make her hungry! Soon babies ... now off to Bikram Yoga to atone for my gluttony!

Ilili is located at 236 Fifth Avenue (between W 28th and W 29th Street), New York, NY. Tel. (212) 683-2929.

tapas at bar carrera

To celebrate our friend Ludette's birthday, we indulged in tapas, wine and lots of girl talk at Bar Carrera tonight. I just love this place. They have so many great wines at reasonable prices, and the tapas they serve are just scrumptuous. I've blogged before about my undying love for their honey-drizzled salmon, black caviar and mascarpone cheese on a toasted brioche concoction ($6). It is truly one of the most delicious dishes ever. But their egg-in-a-blanket ($6) is definitely a contender for the sexiest-thing-on-brioche award. It's a truffled egg inside a mini brioche canoodling with Serrano ham and melted manchego cheese. I mean, really. I'm helpless against these two.

We also tried some of their specials. I can't remember the specifics but I recall being enthusiastic about the mushrooms on crostinis, and just mildly interested in the egg and garbanzos. That said, every bite of the garbanzo dish was scraped off that plate.

And finally, some very persuasive arguments against going vegan. On the left, pork belly caramelized with juniper sugar and chickpea puree ($6). The pork belly was perfectly tender with a bit of a crunch on the skin. Just lovely. But the dish that blew me away tonight was the plato jamon a la Campagna ($15), which had some delicious 18-month old jamon Serrano and the most sublime mozzarella di bufala that I've had in a long time. Our waitress (who was amazing by the way) told us that their mozzarella is flown into JFK fresh everyday, and is supplied to very high end restaurants around the city. Bar Carrera only has it because the owner is good friends with the supplier. It is just exquisite, I tell you. It is so fresh, light and just the epitome of melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

We also polished off two bottles of Setena ’04, which is a pretty good deal at $32 for the bottle. It's a combination of garnacha, cabernet sauvignon and syrah, with a nice and velvety texture, a long finish, and the flavors of dark fruit and spice. Definitely a great drink to have on a wintry New York evening.

Feeling no remorse after stuffing and boozing ourselves silly (don't be fooled, we doubled up on a lot of these plates), we stopped by Momofuku Milk Bar for some treats. I seem to have converted Cris into a milk cereal-soft serve patron. I seem to have converted myself into a compost cookie lover too. What's not to love about a cookie that has potato chips, butterscotch, chocolate chips, pretzels and coffee in it? That's all my necessary food groups in one cookie.

I felt so guilty after this that I walked 20 blocks home (plus the requisite 5 flights of stairs). But hey, sometimes some food's just too darn good to pass up!

Ok signing off ... hope you had a hump day involving some delicious treats too!

Bar Carrera is located at 175 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10003 and 146 West Houston Street, New York, New York 10012.

Momofuku Milk Bar is located at 207 2nd Avenue, on the corner of 13th Street, New York, NY 10003

midnight snack

I had to do something to make up for the salad that I had for dinner (and that 13-hour workday), so I thought I'd treat myself to some of Asher's almond butter crunch and a tall glass of cold milk. Boy was I glad that I have this tendency to squirrel away sweets for a rainy day. It was over a week ago that I made this delicious treat's acquintance: 

I was stumbling around Milton, PA with Zoe and company, hunting down a coffee shop but we found a candy shop instead. The girl behind the counter gave us a taste of this and we were done for. That's how drug dealers get you too. I wouldn't be surprised if this had crack in it.

The almond butter crunch has a base of homemade English style toffee enveloped in rich milk chocolate then coated with crushed almonds. OH. MY. GOD. So good. For some odd reason, I assumed this was a small-town treat that I couldn't get anywhere else but Milton, PA but of course I was wrong. Though Asher's has its roots in Philadelphia, of course there are many ways to get your grubby hands on them. I'm restraining myself from ordering a pound of almond butter crunch from the website, which of course just happens to be having an online special selling 1 pound for a mere $10.95! Also tempting me wildly at the moment: chocolate covered potato chips, a pound of which is also being sold at the same price. I'm not really a sweet tooth, but when steered into salty-sweet territory, I'm more easily swayed. I've had chocolate covered potato chips before and they are seriously yummy! God help me ...

Ok gulping down the rest of my milk and going to bed. Hopefully I can sleep the cravings off! Night loves!

the long-lost tokyo shopping chronicle

Found some shopping pics that almost got lost in the oblivion that is Celine's "My Pictures" folder. I snapped these while shopping in La Foret Mall in Harajuku last November. I wish I had taken Farah's advice and gone there sooner because I love, love, loved everything. Very cool clothes at not too steep prices. I bought a sweater dress/vest combo from there that I've worn a bazillion times already. I wish I had also gotten a fur stole and an anorak with a fuzzy hood. We need to come up with a term that means the opposite of shopper's remorse. I seem to suffer from that a lot.

I never thought I'd love the fur + something short + knee high boots combo since it sounds like something a "working woman" would wear, but I love how these looks were put together:

I just want to reach out and stroke that gray fox fur stole. And I want to learn how to wear a floppy sweater + ripped hem jean skirt + fur with insouciance. I also quite like that Japanese girl's boots. They look so comfy and would totally work here in Manhattan. 

I am kicking myself a little bit for not getting a military green anorak since they were everywhere in every imaginable iteration. I didn't think to get one because I didn't think it was my style and couldn't figure out what I'd wear with it. But now looking at this picture below, I'm thinking, here's an idea, wear it with everything in that picture. *face palm*

Well at least I have my pretty black tweed coat with fox fur trim on the collar and cuffs. I am in love with that coat. It was a splurge at approximately $250 but it's timeless and I'll keep it for a long time, I'm sure. It's also the failsafe coat for occasions when I need to look glam but also stay warm (read: winter weddings and New Year's Eve parties). The best pic I have while wearing it is below. I know, you don't really see much of the coat, but I look like a pimp in most every other picture I have wearing it (must have to do with the fur + New Year's Eve top hat combo). But you get an idea of how nice and plush the collar is. And I like this picture because I feel very Jackie O in it ... though don't be fooled, the look on my face is really just utter boredom masquerading as poise.

Oh my dear, Tokyo ... you made me love you in so many different ways. You definitely deserve another visit. Big hug.

portugal on my mind

I've had Portugal on the brain all day after waking up to a message on my Facebook wall from my dear friend Avery mentioning a biennial festival called Boom that's taking place there in August. Still ruminating on whether a "three day open air psychedelic Goa trance extravaganza ... in a magic forest in Portugal" is for me. If I do go, I'd have to combine that trip with my planned Ibiza trip in September ... I wonder if packing for a trance extravaganza in a Portuguese forest calls for a similar wardrobe for partying in Ibiza? Hmmm.

Anyhoo, while I was browsing my favorite shopping sites, I came across J.Crew's catalog photographed in ... where else? Portugal! Way to stoke my wanderlust J.Crew.

I have been wanting to see Lisbon for a looooong time. Back in 2004, I had a ticket booked for Lisbon, but due to my amazing propensity to get stranded, I found myself stuck in Prague and unable to go on that trip. So it's been quite a frustration since then. I am crazy about mosaic and tiled anything, so Lisbon seems utterly beautiful to me. I am dying to see the intricate calcada portuguesa (the mosaic tiled streets) and the colorful handpainted-tile facades of the buildings in Lisbon.

The J.Crew shoot also got me curious about the outskirts of Lisbon. They did a shoot at a walled city called Obidos. The whitewashed walls remind me of the Greek Islands while the fortresses make me think of the medieval walled city Toledo in Spain.

And having grown up in the tropics, I always appreciate a beautiful beach. Praia da Adraga, where the J.Crew team photographed its swimwear story, seems so majestic, enveloped within towering stone cliffs. I'm so ready to pack my fedora and just head out to Portugal, I swear ...

My feet are getting itchy ... must go places this year!

restaurant week diary: en japanese brasserie

Phenomenal restaurant week meal at EN Japanese Brasserie last night! Thank god too because we had to brave frostbite to get there, with New York's freezing temps. I had never been to this restaurant before and I have to say, I quite like it! It's a modern izakaya with lofty ceilings and sleek Japanese-inflected interiors. There's a massive open kitchen that's completely staffed with Japanese cooks (not a common sight in Manhattan). The air is suffused with the scent of stone grilled meat. LOVE!

I started off with a large bottle of Echigo rice beer ($11), which lasted me the entire meal. It was quite good; a hoppy lager, slightly bitter, but strong enough to stand up to all the strong flavors in my dinner. There were so many tempting things on the a lá carte menu that I almost skipped the restaurant week menu; the uni don had me thinking for a while, but I'll have to come back for that another time. I decided to go for the full on restaurant week menu, which was totally worth it! For starters, we were given o-banzai, or the chef's selection of traditional Kyoto-style appetizers. Tonight it was one seaweed concoction and another pickled radish dish. We were also given the handmade tofu that the restaurant is known for. This tofu is made fresh, everyday, at 6:00, 7:30, 9:00 and 10:30. I love seaweed and pickled apps so I was happy with the o-banzai. And the silky goodness of that ultrafresh tofu was just awesome.

But nothing brought a bigger smile to my face than this:

The stone grilled Washugyu creates quite a spectacle when it is served, since it is such a beautiful plate. The picture's a little washed out so the steak looks more well-done than it actually was. It was actually quite nicely medium rare, which is just how I like it. The serving is incredibly generous. Even with the $10 supplement, I found this to be a way better deal than the other entree options (black cod or vegetable tempura). This dish is sold for $42 on the regular menu, so it's a good deal to do $45 for the Restaurant Week menu and get all the little trappings thrown in. We were also served onigiri and miso soup. I couldn't even get through the miso soup because I was so stuffed. Dessert was simple: a scoop of tangerine ice cream. I was not crazy about the flavor but at that point, the ice cream was a welcome respite from the heavy dinner.

At the end of our meal, we were each given $20 coupons to use towards one of their regular tasting menus, which start at $65. I totally intend on making use of that coupon one of these days! Must have more! I am also very curious about EN Japanese Brasserie's "Fish Heads, Eel Bones & Beer" dinner, which is inspired by their staff meals. It takes place at 10pm on the first Saturday of every month. It centers on the concept that nothing is wasted in a Japanese kitchen, so odds and ends like scraps of wagyu beef and fish heads are turned into delicious dishes by the chefs. Past dinners have included sea bream-head soup, crunchy deep fried eel and fluke bones, and braised wagyu beef tips. Also, this $45 meal comes will all the Sapporo beer you can drink. My kind of dinner.

I would definitely rank EN Japanese Brasserie as one of my top Restaurant Week experiences. Delicious food, wonderful service, amazing ambience and just great value for money. Meals like these are why I love Restaurant Week!

EN Japanese Brasserie is located at 435 Hudson Street (at Leroy), New York, NY 10014. Tel. 212.647.9196

how to ... dress up for a pink party

I've always been a girly girl. I grew up sleeping in coordinated pink bedrooms, wore a pink princess gown on my 18th birthday extravaganza, and later in life even developed a weakness for men in crisp pink shirts. So when my friend Céline invited me to French Tuesdays' Pink Party, I was all for it. The rule was to have a touch of pink in your outfit. You needn't dress head-to-toe in pink; I got away with wearing just a fuchsia headband. But I thought it was a brilliant idea. It's a simple theme but it ties a party together and makes for very pretty party pics. And ok, fine ... I just do love men in pink shirts!

What I learned from this party? A touch of pink is more than enough. Simply wearing one piece from the collage below would make a sweet impact on a pink party (okay fine, you can pick two pieces as long as the second is the Veuve Clicquot). 

Alice + Olivia dress at Shopbop; Headband at Ban.do; Joie "You're So Vain" sandals at Bloomingdale's; Louise Mariette headband at Net-a-porter; French Tuesdays Pink Party photographed by Damian Pope; Veuve Clicquot

Wouldn't it be lovely to throw a pink party with lots of rosé, baby pink macaroons and feather boas galore?