Jess & Garrett forgot their cameras but brought their appetite to Tia Pol. Click the quote for the full write-up.

…bar stools don’t encourage the kind of lingering, “try this, then try that” the food deserves.”

And with that, we’re off to San Francisco. There won’t be any updates until next week, but don’t worry — we’ll be back.

When I made reservations for lunch at Per Se, I made a note that it was a present for my sister’s birthday. When they called back to confirm the reservation they asked how to spell my sister’s name, and I started to realize just how special this meal would be. I had read Phoebe Damrosch’s Service Included, but I was not prepared for the actual experience. I had also read Bruni’s review, in which he declared that it was the vegetable tasting menu that had won him over, but I wasn’t prepared for the mastery of the cooking. Everything, from the food, to the service, to the interior design of the restaurant is so perfectly crafted that it basically creates an alternate reality that far outshines the “real world” just outside the restaurant’s doors.

Click to continue…

Broccoli has finally come into its own at the Farmer’s Market. For weeks we’ve been treated to limp, yellowing florets, but this morning the broccoli was glorious. I usually throw broccoli in with pasta and a garlic/olive oil sauce, but the best thing I’ve ever made with broccoli is Mario Batali’s Pan Cotto con Broccoli. It’s a simple soup of water, bread, and broccoli, but it has amazing flavor.

Hot on the heels of the controversy surrounding the Thai Prime Minister’s appearance on a cooking show, tomorrow Michelle Obama will appear on Food Network’s Paula’s Party. Not to be outdone, John McCain himself (along with his wife, Cindy) will appear on the Rachael Ray Show. Seriously? Does anyone really care about how the President (or the President’s spouse) cooks? And since when did a candidate appearing on a non-political show ever help their campaign?

Over at Fork in the Road they recently had what they called a Bagel Smackdown, in which they compared bagels from several different places around NYC. To represent Brooklyn they went to the Bagel Hole over on 7th Ave. I had a bagel there once, and it was so doughy and gummy that I vowed never to go back. I am, however, in love with the bagels at Terrace Bagels on Prospect Park West. In fact they have the best bagels I’ve ever eaten in NYC, and I’m not just saying that because they are located 5 minutes from my apartment. The service can be a little aggravating, especially when the “to order” line gets mixed with the “to pay” line, the place is mobbed on weekends, and once they even forgot to give my order to the kitchen after writing it down. All is forgiven, though, after eating the bagels. I prefer them untoasted, and I usually go for a multigrain bagel with the scallion tofu-cream cheese. I also recommend their bialys, which are great with egg and cheese. Even if you stick to the basics you’ll get a great, fresh bagel that will leave you wanting more.

I like to think that I’m pretty much a veteran when it comes to the Red Hook Vendors. It’s fun to see newbies trying to navigate their way around Red Hook and the vendors at the ball field. It’s not fun when the newbies ask silly questions and hold up the line. Once I was asked, while standing in front of the ceviche vendor getting a cheese empanada, if the ceviche there was safe. *sigh….
The first thing I do when I get there is to stand in the pupusa line, knowing that later the line will be a 45min to an hour wait. Also they usually have lots of meat and cheese pupusas already cooking on the griddle and they’ll ask who wants meat and cheese. If meat and cheese pupusa is your thing grab it, that’ll make your wait shorter. After eating the pupusas and resting I head for the ceviche cart to get 2 cheese empanadas. They’re sooooo good. Fried to golden goodness with the melty cheese inside. Then I wash everything down with a watermelon juice or a pineapple juice, large please!
Recently I started to not go to the pupusa line but instead go for the less crowded ones. When you get to the ball field you’ll definitely know which vendors are more popular. I know the general idea is if there’s a long line it must be good! Well this time I decided to go to go for the vendors with short to no lines. So if you walk down on Bay St and make a left on Clinton you’ll find Perez Tacos. They serve awesome steak tacos and I usually get two. Last year while waiting in line the guy in front of me got chicharron or pork rind on his tacos! I obviously copied him and was I glad I did! For no extra money you get four to five pieces of chicharron. They went soooo well with the steak tacos. So this time around I went with the same thing but now to get chicharron with your steak tacos you’ll have to add $1 extra. For $1 you only get two but it’s only $1 more for good fried porky skin goodness.
So I say go try something new and give all the vendors at the ball field a chance.