last week was a culinary adventure, especially having guests in town. Of course we ate tons of turkey, but we got a chance to try some restaurants we hadn't been to before AND show off some of our favorite places to eat. Of course a shout out goes to Wayne's amazing braised duck, which disappeared on Thanksgiving in about twenty seconds.
My favorite, of course, was the Union Square Cafe. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The service was impeccable, the food was outstanding, the atmosphere was nice (although I could have done without the obnoxious party of four from L.A. next to us). For an appetizer I had meltingly tender gnocchi with mushrooms and prosciutto in a butter sauce, it was exactly the right portion. The Seared Sea Scallops with Wild Mushrooms, Pearl Onions, Bacon, Red Wine and Baby Arugula Greens had been cooked to perfection, with the scallops being cooked just to firmness. I loved that everything on the menu sounded appealing, and that I would have been happy ordering anything on the menu. There are so few restaurants where I could say that.
Other highlights of our little culinary adventure included Sushi D, a nice sushi joint on De Kalb Ave; Zaytoon's, on Myrtle Ave, their hummus is definitely worth checking out; Spice, a Thai restaurant in Chelsea, one of my favorite cheap lunch spots because of the tasty food and "hip" ambiance (yes sometimes I like that); Li Hua, a Korean restaurant on the corner of Grand St. and Baxter St. that makes kickass bibimbap and kalbi (order extra kimchi!).
I guess I just have try Wayne's duck. When is he available?(Ha!) One thing good about NY is that you never runs out of good restuartant to try. We should go to some of those you mentioned.