Yummy in the Tummy blog

Get my macarons at Tafu New York

2009-01-11T20:00:00.005-05:00

First of all, Happy New Year to you all!
May 2009 bring more sweets to your life :-)

Many of you have emailed and asked me regarding where to get the macarons after the Gifted Holiday market is over. Well, I have good news! Starting tomorrow, Monday January 12, 2009, you can get itzy bitzy patisserie’s macarons at Tafu New York. I’m super excited, yay! :D

Here are our macaron's flavors for January:
- Caramel fleur de sel
- Lemon
- Matcha green tea
- Mocha
- Pistachio raspberry
- Vanilla

In addition to these flavors, you can also try the Houjicha macaron that is created especially for Tafu.

So, please stop by at Tafu to pick up one, two or several macarons :-)
Thanks again for all your supports and encouragements all these times.

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Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
http://www.itzybitzypatisserie.com

Tafu
569 Lexington Ave
Double Tree Metropolitan Hotel 1F
New York, NY 10002
(212) 980-1310
http://www.tafuny.com/

itzy bitzy's December flavors

2008-12-11T17:00:00.011-05:00

Finally, I can reveal our macaron's December flavors, here they are:
- Chestnut
- Cranberry
- Chocolate chocolate
- Rose raspberry litchi
- Gingerbread
- Peppermint

This month, we will be indoor at the Gifted Holiday Market instead of the outdoor Brooklyn Flea, please come by if you are in the neighborhood (or even if you're not in the neighborhood) :D

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Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
http://www.itzybitzypatisserie.com

Gifted Holiday Market
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
317 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/holiday/

Brooklyn Flea
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
357 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/

We won't be at the Brooklyn Flea Market this Sunday (Dec. 7)

2008-12-05T20:00:00.002-05:00

After checking the weather forecast we found out that it will snow/showers on Sunday, so we decided not to come to the Brooklyn Flea Market this Sunday. Believe me, it was a very difficult decision to make. However considering that we barely made any sales last week and macarons are perishable, I feel that this is the right decision.

We'll be back again next two Sundays (December 14 & 21) with 6 new flavors (pssst..., one of them will be rose raspberry litchi macaron), so please come to visit us :-) However, we will be at the Gifted Holiday Market, inside the Masonic Temple, across the street from the Brooklyn Flea Market. I'm so excited, I hope to see you there!

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Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
http://www.itzybitzypatisserie.com

Brooklyn Flea
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
357 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/

Gifted Holiday Market
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
317 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/holiday/

My second week at Brooklyn Flea Market

2008-12-01T12:00:00.024-05:00

Yesterday was another week at the Brooklyn Flea Market. We started the day by attending the Sunday mass at St Patrick's Cathedral before picking Kathy up. She is a fantastic friend who volunteered herself to help me even after cold weather experience last week, thanks again Kathy!

Then we went to Doughnut Plant (again) to get our breakfast. Beside our love for their doughnuts, we also want to try their newest creation: creme brulee doughnut. When we were there last Sunday, it was not available yet, I guess we came too early. As usual, it was good!

Vanilla bean doughnut and Hot chai

Creme brulee and Peanut butter glaze cranberry orange jelly doughnuts

We arrived at the Brooklyn Flea Market around 8:30 am, 1 hour later than last week. At that time, there were only couple other vendors that had set up their tent. When we left home, it was flurry then turning into ice and then it was raining. When my husband finished setting up our tent (it only took him 30 minutes this time, he's getting faster, thanks honey!), I noticed only 10 very "brave" vendors and we were one of them, yay! I think this showed how dedicated we are to our customers and products :-)

My husband setting up the tent

The booth

360 degree view of the market

Around noon time, Robyn came to visit and we planned to have lunch together. We chatted for a while and noticed there were a lot fewer people coming to the market compared to last week. Our tent also started to leak, so we decided to wrap up soon. In between, we got some hot chocolates from Nunu Chocolates, which was our "next door" neighbor for this week. It was good, hot enough to warm up our bodies.

I brought in about 450 macarons, which 150 of them I put aside for samples. When we wrapped up around 1:30 pm, we only sold about 10%, wow! Business usually has ups and downs and yesterday was not a successful day for us. Even though the temperature was a little bit warmer, the rain was pouring all day long. I guess this prevented many people from going out.

Chestnut with green tea & Pumpkin and Chocolate caramel pecan & Coffee macarons

Pistachio & Passion fruit macarons and The samples

Then the four of us headed for late lunch/early dinner at Famous Sichuan in Chinatown. Robyn and Kathy just had dinner there the night before, however they liked the food a lot and wanted to go back for more :-) Of course my husband and I agreed to go there, one should never doubt these two knowledgeable ladies about what good food is! They were absolutely right, everything there was delicious. Surprisingly, my favorite was the sauteed string beans and I'm not a veggie eater! Wow, my mom would be so proud of me :D

Sichuan wonton with red oil and Dan dan noodle with minced pork chili sauce

Steamed vegetable dumpling and Sauteed string beans

Braised beef filets & napa cabbage with roasted chili and Fried whole fish with sweet & sour sauce

From here we drove to K-town to drop Robyn off since she had to meet her friends for dinner. Then after dropping Kathy off at her place (she had to meet up with her friends too for dinner in 1 hour), we stopped by at Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar (again) to get some desserts. It's all Kathy's fault for introducing me to this place, thanks :P I finally got to try the pistachio cake, yay! It was good, but my favorite was still the banana cake. BTW, I went to this place too the day before to get some take-out brunch, can you believe it? Everything was excellent, especially the English muffin.

Candy bar pie and Pistachio cake

Cereal milk for dessert and Tristar strawberry milk for brunch

Pork & egg bun and Pork buns for brunch

English muffin and Banana cake for brunch

Corn and Cornflake-marshmallow-chocolate chip cookies for brunch

I'm very thankful to everyone who has supported me and to those who came just to buy the macarons, how nice of you! I hope that next week will be a much better time for us.

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Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
http://www.itzybitzypatisserie.com

Brooklyn Flea
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
357 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 505-3700
http://www.doughnutplant.com/

Famous Sichuan
10 Pell St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 233-3888
http://www.famoussichuan.com

Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar
207 2nd Avenue, 13th Street entrance
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-0031
http://www.momofuku.com/bakery/default.asp

Behind the scene of my macaron's debut at Brooklyn Flea Market

2008-11-24T21:00:00.021-05:00

First of all, thank you to all who came to the Brooklyn Flea Market yesterday to support us. I also want to say thank you so much to Robyn, Tina and Serious Eats for the shout-outs and supports. For Kathy, I don't even know what to say to her. Words cannot express our gratitute to her! She mentioned us on her blog and willingly came to the market with us, since the set up began at 7:30 am until the end of the day at 5 pm. She is really Godsend :D I'm very lucky to meet a lot of wonderful people!

Anyway, here is the story. My husband and I woke up at 4:45 am, after only sleeping for less than 2 hours. We started to pack everything that we needed to bring to the market. Even though we tried to do it quickly, we didn't leave home until 5:45 am. So, I called Kathy at 6 am to let her know that we were running late, since I told her the day before that we would pick her up at 6:15 am. Sorry again Kathy!

On the way to Manhattan, we heard the news that Holland Tunnel was closed due to maintenance work. So, we had to take Lincoln Tunnel to get to Manhattan, which meant a little detour. Finally we arrived at Kathy's place and went to Doughnut Plant to get breakfast. From there, we went straight to the market.

Hot chai and Vanilla bean doughnut

Chestnut cake doughnut and Roasted chestnut doughnut

When we arrived there, my husband went to check in while Kathy and I waited in the car. At that time (around 7:30 am) only a few vendors were there. He came back to the car and said that we needed to get some weights to hold the tent since it would be windy. So, we went to Walgreens to get some gallon-sized bottles of water and then went back to the market. My husband went inside the market to set up the tent while we waited in the car with the heater's on :-) BTW, the temperature outside was about 30F at that time.

Brooklyn Flea Market at 7:30 and 8:30 am

After reading the instructions step-by-step and struggling for more than 1 hour, my husband finally finished setting up the tent. This was his first time ever doing this, so I was very proud of him, thanks honey! By this time (around 8:30 am) more vendors had come. After the tent was ready, we uploaded everything from the car and started to set up the booth. It looked very nice! The tables were covered with red tablecloths and on the front table we put the menu (that has our logo made by Jessie, a very talented and nice person), a display tray, boxes of macaron set and a box filled with some samples. On the back table, we put the remainder of the samples and the packaging. We kept the rest of the macarons in the cooler, even though I didn't think we needed to do that considering the temperature that day was only between 30-40F. I was bundle up and put warmers on my body, hands and toes. These really helped me to stay warm. Thanks R for recommending that warmers.

My husband setting up the tent

The booth and The table set up

Me and Kathy

Then the market officially opened at 10 am. I was super excited, the day was finally here! The first customer came and we started giving away sample. She loved the macaron and decided to buy 1 box of the assorted macarons. She said that she was one of Robyn's blog reader. Then the second customer came and said that her friend could come and sent her to get the macarons, wow! She said that her friend found out about us from a food blog, but she was not sure what. She said it was "passion something", wait a minute, it must be Kathy's blog -- A Passion for Food. Then more and more customer came, some were the market visitors and some were bloggers who are Kathy's, Robyn's and Serious Eats reader. So, thanks again guys!

When lunch time came, we decided to support other vendors and bought pizza from Pizza Moto and huarache from Fernando Martinez (one of the Red Hook vendors). The pizza was delicious, especially since it came straight from the oven and was still piping hot. The huarache was great, however it got cold fast, since the weather was just like inside the refrigerator.

Pizza with tomato & mozzarella and Huarache

The day went by so quickly, by 3:30 pm only 7 macarons left (6 chestnut with green tea and 1 passion fruit). I brought in about 350 macarons, sold 50% and gave away 50%. I was very happy, considering the weather was cold and this was the first time ever, yay! :D I was afraid that people would be disappointed with the texture of the macarons since they were not at the "room temperature". Fortunately everybody said that they liked the macarons (wait until they got home, it'd be even better!). This was definitely the challenge of selling macarons outdoor when it was cold.

The macarons at the beginning and at the end of the day

At 4 pm we decided to wrap up and went home. We stopped by at Kampuchea to have dinner and Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar for dessert. The hot noodle soup was perfect to warm us up, the cake was perfect to put a smile on my face. We finally said goodbye to Kathy, she declined our offer to drive her back to her place since it was only 1 block away from Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar.

Watermelon juice, Lychee fizz and Pineapple coconut juice

Seared sweetbread and Seared monkfish liver

Bwah moun and Duroc pork katiev

Chicken katiev and Tristar strawberry milk, Cereal milk & Salty pistachio caramel soft serve - sample

Chocolate chip and Dulce de leche cakes

I wouldn't lie, I was very tired, especially after only sleeping for 4-5 hours everyday this past 2 months and only 2 hours this last 2 days. However, it was all worth it when I saw how happy people were when they ate the macarons. The most memorable moment for me was when a little girl came and I offered her a sample of the macaron. She chose the chestnut with green tea, which happened to be mine & Kathy's personal favorite. I could see from a far that she loved it. A few minutes later she and her parents came back and bought 2 boxes of the assorted macarons!

I will leave you by saying THANK YOU again to everyone who has helped making my macaron's first debut a very successful one. We will be back again next Sunday, I hope that the weather will be nice. BTW, Kathy has offered to help me again, isn't she an angel? :-)

**********

Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
http://www.itzybitzypatisserie.com

Brooklyn Flea
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
357 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 505-3700
http://www.doughnutplant.com/

Kampuchea
78 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 529-3901
http://kampucheanyc.com/

Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar
207 2nd Avenue, 13th Street entrance
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-0031
http://www.momofuku.com/bakery/default.asp

My macaron's first debut

2008-11-22T09:00:00.010-05:00

I told Robyn, Tina, Kathy and Carol at the end of August when I asked them and several other people to become my taste testers that I planned to start my macaron business before Thanksgiving. Luckily everything went as planned and I can keep my promise :-)

So the day is finally here! Tomorrow (Sunday, November 23, 2008) will be my macaron's first debut to the public. I will be at the Brooklyn Flea to sell the macarons as well as give away some samples. Here are the flavors:
- Chestnut with green tea
- Chocolate caramel pecan
- Coffee
- Passion fruit
- Pistachio
- Pumpkin

Kathy will be there too, she is such a terrific lady! She offered to help me without me asking for it, what a wonderful friend. When you are in the area, please come to see us. Robyn said that she will be there too. Unfortunately Tina is sick, so I'm not sure if she will be able to come. I didn't know them before this, even though I have been following their blogs for a while. However since then, they have become part of my macaron journey and most importantly my friends.

**********

Itzy Bitzy Patisserie
http://www.itzybitzypatisserie.com

Brooklyn Flea
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
357 Clermont Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea/

The surprise gift from Chef Pierre Hermé

2008-11-04T15:21:00.013-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, on the second day of class we got a wonderful surprise from him. Unfortunately, I could not reveal what it was before. However after I saw the picture of it in his catalog as well as in here, I decided to post some photos that I have.

I remember Jacquy jokingly said that PH will be surprised to find out every bakeries in here will have this dessert in December. The dessert is called Agapé which consists of gingerbread, winter fruits and lemon mousseline, topped with caramel glaze. It tasted fantastic, perfect flavor combination!

Without further do, here are some photos of Agapé.

Assembling Agapé

Agapé

Also, back in September 11, 2008 PH released his newest book which is titled Macaron and opened his newest store as mentioned here. This store focuses only on macarons and chocolates, do you want to take a peek?

Last but not least, here's the photo from one of the best days of my life.

Pierre Hermé and me

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Pierre Hermé Paris
http://www.pierreherme.com

French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com

Did you vote?

2008-11-04T09:30:00.002-05:00

Today is the election day, so please don't forget to vote!

Now I leave you with this special red-white-blue macarons that I just made this morning, enjoy!

Red-White-Blue Macarons

Matcha confectionary fair at Mitsuwa Marketplace

2008-06-22T16:32:00.007-04:00

After having lunch at SriPraPhai yesterday, we came here for their Matcha confectionary fair. I love matcha, so no wonder I had to check out this special event. When we arrived there, I went straight to that special display located near the entrance. There were lots of matcha products and most of them usually I couldn't find, so I couldn't resist to buy several items.

Here were what I got:

Nabisco - Sofrea soft cake - green tea and Ginbis - Shimi choco corn cracker - matcha

Kashiwado - Senbei - matcha and Lotte - Toppo - matcha chizukeki

Kasugai - Wafers choco - matcha and Furuta - Uji matcha cookie

Tohato - Caramel corn - matcha and Futaba - Matcha hoten

Kanro - Matcha saryou and Lotte - Matcha gum

Meiji - Rich matcha chocolate and Furuta - Sequoia chocolate - matcha

Lotte - Rich matcha chocolate

And couple items that were not matcha:

Nestle - KitKat - white and Fujiya - Petite france - le praline

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Mitsuwa Marketplace
595 River Road
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 941-9113
http://www.mitsuwanj.com/en/

Lunch at SriPraPhai

2008-06-22T15:15:00.013-04:00

Even though we used to live in Queens 6 years ago, we have never been to this restaurant. Finally yesterday we decided to try it out and we were glad that we did. When we arrived they were just opened, however there were a lot of people already, it was lunch time.

We were asked if we wanted to sit outside in the garden, it was nice but we preferred to sit inside. Then came our waiter who brought us the menu, he was very nice and friendly. We told him that this was our first time here so we asked for his recommendation. He mentioned some of the food that was popular and good there. He took our drink order and then let us look at the menu.

I remembered reading of what should be ordered from here, so I tried to find the picture of it. There was an album filled with pictures of most of the dishes, it was a good idea. After browsing that album, we finally decided what we wanted to try and told our waiter when he came back with our drinks, the Thai iced tea.

Thai iced tea

For appetizer we ordered fried vegetable (chive) dumpling that was recommended by our waiter. It was crunchy and filled with lots of chives, a little bit too bland when I didn't dip it in the sauce that came with it. It was okay, not our favorite.
The next dish was crispy thai catfish meat salad, it was amazing. The crispiness of the fried shredded catfish combined with the spiciness, sweetness and sourness of the salad was perfect, so yummy! We would come back again if only for this dish, highly recommended.

Fried vegetable (chive) dumpling and Crispy thai catfish meat salad

For the entree we ordered soy sauce noodles with beef and broccoli, it was good. The beef was tender but the overall taste was not that flavorful. The one from Thai Kitchen in New Jersey was still better. The saute fried soft shell crab with chili, garlic and basil leaves was delicious, it was special of the day. The crab was well covered with the sauce that was spicy and tasty.

Soy sauce noodles with beef & broccoli and Saute fried soft shell crab with chili, garlic & basil leaves

The masaman curry with chicken, onion and potatoes was wonderful. The chicken was tender, the sauce was rich and not too spicy. Then came the shrimp paste fried rice with chicken and dry shrimp, it was fantastic. The tender chicken and the crunchy dried shrimp were very tasty, mixed with the cucumber, red onion and egg as well as the shrimp paste fried rice itself was incredible, definitely our favorite here. When we ordered this, our waiter made sure that we knew what this was. He warned us that it didn't smell good but the taste was good. We told him that we are familiar with the shrimp paste and love it, even though it does smell awful :-)

Masaman curry with chicken, onion & potatoes and Shrimp paste fried rice with chicken & dry shrimp

As usual we ordered too much, we couldn't finish them since we wanted to save room for dessert. We chose sticky rice & ripe mango, as well as steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves with banana filling, they both were excellent.

Sticky rice & ripe mango and Steamed sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves with banana filling

Before we left I told my husband that I wanted to check out their display that we passed by on the way to our table. I was so happy to see boxes of fried chicken skin and decided to get one box. It was so crispy, a little bit too salty though, but overall was still very good, I love it. It's been a long time since I had this since I couldn't find it until yesterday. I didn't want to make it myself even though I had a deep fryer at home, I just didn't want to get hurt from the possibility of hot oil splash. The fried banana was disappointing, the banana was still not ripe yet.

Fried chicken skin and Fried banana

I also got a couple desserts to take home: sweet rice, coconut milk, longan & sugar and tapioca, coconut milk, corn & sugar. Both of them was very good, creamy and not too sweet.

Sweet rice, coconut milk, longan & sugar and Tapioca, coconut milk, corn & sugar

From here we went to Mitsuwa Marketplace to check out their Matcha confectionary fair that they had this weekend.

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SriPraPhai
6413 39th Ave
Woodside, NY 11377
(718) 899-9599

My birthday dinner at Daniel

2008-06-18T15:16:00.001-04:00

To celebrate my birthday, my husband took me for a surprise dinner at Daniel. It's been a while since we first vowed to dine at Daniel Boulud's flagship restaurant and finally the time was here, so I was very excited. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by a hostess who took our name and then led us to our table. At that time the restaurant was quite empty since they just opened, however it filled up fairly quickly as the night progressed.

The interior had Venetian Renaissance style decor, elegant, and beautiful. It was dimly lit, made the atmosphere more romantic, although personally speaking they could be a little brighter. The tables were covered by white cloths, they had fresh flowers and candles on top. We noticed that the napkin and the table cloth both had chef Daniel Boulud's initial, very nice.

Then came our captain who brought us the menu, followed by one server who brought a purse stool. The menu offered 3-course prix fixe, daily specials and 6-course seasonal tasting menu. We chose the tasting menu so that we could have the whole dining experience. I ordered a non-alcoholic drink called palm beach, a mixture of raspberry puree, pineapple puree, orange juice and mint -- very refreshing.

Palm beach

Dinner started with a two-tiered tray of canapés:
- Crisp parmesan basket with goat cheese and pine nut: crispy and creamy
- Asparagus quiche: melt in your mouth
- Heart of palm puree: very smooth
- BBQ eel with soybean puree: tender and tasty

Canapés. Top: Crisp parmesan basket and Asparagus quiche. Bottom: Heart of palm puree and BBQ eel with soybean puree.

It was followed by the bread service, I chose sweet garlic focaccia and mini French baguette, while my husband chose olive & rosemary roll and French roll. All of them was very good, I like the focaccia the most.

Basket of bread

The first course came very fast, we didn't even have a chance to nibble on the bread yet. We noticed that there were as many servers as guests on a table coming and serving the dish in unison. My husband picked rabbit porchetta with spring vegetables, Orleans mustard cream, frisee and chive oil, served with toasted French baguette. It was flavorful and tasty, the variety of vegetables added complementary texture to the rabbit porchetta.

Rabbit porchetta with spring vegetables

Mine was pistachio crusted duck foie gras terrine with poached rhubarb and lillet gelee, served with toasted crustless brioche. It was wonderful, the foie gras was smooth and the sweetness of rhubarb complimented well, but unfortunately the brioche was not warm (I think Per Se spoiled me for life on this one).

Pistachio crusted duck foie gras terrine

For the second course, my husband had trio of sea scallops which were ceviche with wellfeet oyster and uni, tartar with caviar d'aquitaine, sashimi with yuzu. I'm not a raw food fan, so this dish was not my favorite. I let my husband finished them, he said that they were delicious and not fishy at all.

Trio of sea scallops. Clockwise from top left: Sashimi with yuzu, Ceviche with wellfeet oyster and uni, Tartar with caviar d'aquitaine.

I had Maryland jumbo lump crab with sorrento lemon, Boston lettuce and minted yogurt-cucumber gazpacho. It was excellent, the lettuce added crunchness and the gazpacho added refreshness to the dish.

Maryland jumbo lump crab with sorrento lemon

Next came fennel basil ravioli with littleneck clam emulsion, Baja shrimp, cuttlefish, broccoli rabe and chorizo for my husband. It was fantastic, the ravioli was cooked al dente and the emulsion was rich, so yummy!

Fennel basil ravioli with littleneck clam emulsion

For me, I chose kataifi wrapped langoustines with florida corn, crispy pork belly, kale and bacon jus. It was incredible, the langoustine was tender and crunchy from the kataifi, the pork belly was moist, the bacon jus was not too salty, perfect with the sweetness of the corn.

Kataifi wrapped langoustines with florida corn

For the fish course, my husband picked the flaked Atlantic cod with morels, crushed fingerlings, pickled ramps and green peppercorn which was fabulous. The cod was soft and went hand in hand with the sauce, it was simpler than the other dishes yet delicate.

Flaked atlantic cod with morels

I picked crispy red king salmon with parsley, mousserons, wild asparagus and pee wee potato tempura. It was good, the salmon was firm yet tender, the sauce was tasty and the asparagus added some nice texture to it.

Crispy red king salmon with parsley

Then came the signature dish which was duo of dry aged beef -- red wine braised short ribs with shallot confit, seared rib eye with spinach subric and sauteed porcinis. The presentation was detail-oriented, the taste was awesome -- the meat was very tender and cooked perfectly, the sauce was amazing.

Duo of dry aged beef

My dish was Elysian fields farm lamb chop and tenderloin with anchovy stuffed bulb onions, English peas and sage jus. It was fabulous, the meat was juicy and the sauce was rich. My stomach was starting to get full, so I asked my husband to help me finish it since I planned to save room for desserts :-)

Elysian fields farm lamb chop and tenderloin

We received couple of complimentary desserts that were plated elegantly, side by side with the ones from the tasting menu. In addition to these, I also got a "birthday cake", I guessed my husband told them that it was my birthday. Then came the famous madeleines in a bowl covered with white linen, followed by the mignardises. They were very generous and all came together at the same time, so our table was covered with desserts feast, I love it! :-)

The first dessert was bittersweet chocolate praline cremeux with Amer cocoa sponge cake, caraibe ice cream (from the tasting menu) and raspberry lemon vacherin with Thai basil, meringue, raspberry marshmallows (the complimentary). The chocolate praline dessert was divine, it was very rich, creamy, chocolate-y. The raspberry dessert was excellent -- soft and very light.

Bittersweet chocolate praline cremeux and Raspberry lemon vacherin with Thai basil

The second dessert was chocolate biscuit with Kirsch diplomat, roasted cherries, Kriek beer sorbet (the complimentary) and tasting of mango with roasted sesame, ginger marinated, coulis with cilantro, sorbet with kalamansi (from the tasting menu). The Kirsch dessert was enjoyable -- creamy and sweet. The mango was extraordinary, it was refreshing, nutty, crunchy, sweet yet tart, so yummy!

Chocolate biscuit with kirsch diplomat and Tasting of mango with roasted sesame

For my "birthday cake", they gave me chocolate brownie with mascarpone cream, crispy feuilletine, Ethiopian coffee ice cream. The brownie was moist, the mascarpone was smooth, the feuilletine was crunchy, the ice cream was rich, just delightful.

Chocolate brownie with mascarpone cream

The warm, fluffy, moist and tender madeleines were incredible, the mignardises were very good and flavorful. They were definitely a perfect ending for a fabulous culinary experience.

Madeleines and Petits fours

We had an unforgettable night, the food was spectacular and impressive, it definitely lived up to our high expectations. Although the service was good, the staff was a little bit uptight and stuffy, not as friendly as the staff at Per Se. They were also not that attentive, we had to look for and call them when we needed something. However it was all forgiven once our stomachs were screaming for joy :-) I must say that the sauces at Daniel were amazing -- flavorful and rich. Thank you honey for the fabulous dinner, you have chosen the perfect place to celebrate my birthday, I cannot wait to go back again.

**********

Daniel
60 East 65th Street
New York, NY 10065
(212) 288-0033
http://danielnyc.com/daniel/

Desserts at Bouchon Bakery

2008-06-15T16:57:00.020-04:00

After having a wonderful lunch at Highline, we took E, Y, R, B & W for a treat at Time Warner Center where Bouchon Bakery is located. This was the first time for our friends to come here, so they were pretty excited to try the dessert themselves, especially after hearing my praises all these time.

R, B & W arrived there first and reserved some seats for E, Y, my husband and me as soon as the tables were available. When we arrived, as usual there was a line at the take out counter, but it was not bad. I like to browse their display cases since most of the sweets are always new items that I haven't tasted yet. Since I was the one who would pay, I went to order for everyone while they sat down.

R and B have a chance to see the display before we came so they knew what they wanted, which were strawberry parfait, chocolate macaron and seasonal fruit tart. W came with me to the counter since he didn't know what to order yet as well as to help me carry the trays. E wanted chocolate croissant, while Y asked me to pick for her considering I came here quite often. As usual my husband let me get what I wanted and help me to finish them since he knows that I always buy more than one goodies :-)

After looking at the cases W said that he would like to try the pistachio apricot tart. Now for me (and everyone else who was willing to try what I got), I bought key lime millefeuille, seasonal macarons (peaches & cream, fruit of the forest, yuzu), boston cream donut, strawberry parfait, and last but not least the chocolate tart. As for the drinks, we had some coffee, tea and fruit juice soda.

Assorted pastries

When I placed the orders, the nice and friendly lady behind the counter was looking at me curiously. Beside ordering a lot of desserts (total of 12, in case you are wondering), I also told her that everything was for here instead of to go. As soon as I realized that, I told her that I was not the only one who would eat that. I assured her that there were 6 other people waiting at the table who would help me to finish all of these. She started to smile and said that she was concerned about how I was going to finish everything by myself :-)

I tried a little bit of W's pistachio apricot tart, it was wonderful, the pistachio cake was moist and the apricot filling was not too sweet. The boston cream donut was as fantastic as the last time I tasted it, the donut was moist but dense, the custard was creamy.

Pistachio apricot tart and Boston cream donut

The key lime millefeuille was tart, light and coconuty, it was pretty good but the puff pastry was not crisp anymore, a little bit soggy. There was always different kind of millefeuille everytime I visit, so far my favorite is still mocha millefeuille. It was the first dessert from Bouchon that I've ever tasted 1 year ago, unfortunately I don't see it anymore on my visits.

Key lime and Mocha millefeuille

Regarding the macarons, it was okay, nothing special. The texture was a little bit dry, but definitely better than what I usually got from here. The taste was nice though, the peaches & cream was creamy, the fruit of the forest was sweet (and the only one that had moist texture), the yuzu was chocolatey with a hint of citrus. I guess after tasting Pierre Herme's macarons during his special 2-day class in Chicago last month, other's macarons were disappointing.

Seasonal macarons: yuzu, fruit of the forest, peaches & cream and Chocolate macaron

The chocolate tart was still increadible, the tart was flaky and the filling was smooth and chocolatey. I took the strawberry parfait home since everyone was full already. It was sweet, light and creamy, but the gelatin layer on top was too thick and a little bit too gummy. I didn't try the seasonal fruit tart, chocolate macaron or chocolate croissant, so I couldn't give any comments. However the last time I had their chocolate macaron, it was chocolatey but very dry.

Chocolate tart and Strawberry parfait

Seasonal fruit tart and Chocolate croissant

With a very high sugar rush and after hanging out for almost 2 hours, we decided to go on our separate way. When we arrived downstair we were surprised to see a very heavy rain pouring outside. I guess we were too focused on our conversations before and didn't pay any attention to the thunderstorm. R, B & W decided to take the subway, while the rest of us had to wait. We were thinking to get a taxi to go to our car that was parked few blocks away, unfortunately there was no taxi at all.

While waiting for the rain to stop or at least to die down, Y and I decided to go to Whole Foods since I needed to do some grocery shopping. Almost 30 minutes later finally there was a guy selling giant umbrellas outside. We were happy to see him, especially since not a single store in there sold umbrellas. My husband bought 1 for him, so that he could go to get our car since the rain already started to trickle down.

Finally after my husband came, we all got in the car and heading back home. Along the way, the rain poured heavily again, luckily we were already safe inside the car. We all had a lot of fun that day, what a wonderful weekend...

**********

Bouchon Bakery
Ten Columbus Circle, Third Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9366
http://www.bouchonbakery.com/

Lunch at Highline

2008-06-15T11:32:00.015-04:00

Yesterday my husband and I took several of our good friends (E, Y, R, B, W) for lunch in Manhattan to celebrate my birthday. It is customary in my country for the birthday person to treat his or her families and friends. Since we all love Thai food, we decided to try out Highline after hearing positive reviews about them. I also planned to take them to one of my favorite dessert places (Bouchon Bakery) right after lunch.

We didn't go to the meatpacking district often, if I remember correctly this was the second time we were there. The first time was when we went to Del Posto last year (sorry I didn't write a post about them since I haven't started blogging yet, but here are the photos if you want to see).

We left home around 10:30 am to pick up E and Y before going straight to Manhattan. We were going to meet R, B and W at the restaurant, our reservation was at noon. By the way, we were lucky that we planned for lunch instead of dinner since there was thunderstorm later that day.

As soon as we arrived in Manhattan, we found a parking spot right away, on the same block as the restaurant. When we first saw the spot we thought we couldn't park there since there were orange cones, but soon came a man who moved the cones for us and then stood nearby. We understood right away what he wanted, so E got out of the car and gave him some money since we didn't want to have any problem.

The restaurant was empty, I guessed it might be because they just opened but proven to be wrong when there were only 2 other guests that came throughout our 2 hour lunch. We were quite surprised since from what we've read this place was usually crowded on the weekends, maybe at nights? The interior was modern decorated in white color, bright and very clean, the server was quite friendly.

While waiting for W who arrived 15 minutes later, we ordered our drinks. I knew that I wanted Thai iced tea, while my husband who usually like regular tea, that day wanted to try lychee cha dum thai which is an infused Thai black tea with re-hydrated milk and lychee fruit. R and B also ordered the Thai iced tea, while E ordered chrysanthemum tea and guava tea for Y. All the teas were very good, definitely a good start.

Thai iced tea and Lychee cha dum thai

Chrysanthemum and Guava & lemon peel cha dum thai

When everyone had arrived and got a chance to peruse the menu, we were ready to order. Since this was lunch, we were given a complimentary appetizer for each of the entree. Wow, it was a very good deal!

We decided to share everything so that we could taste them all. Here were what we ordered for appetizer:
- 2 orders of chicken lettuce wrap with 10 spices vinaigrette, it was amazing -- very tasty
- 2 orders of shrimp and chicken fritters served with mint and tomato sauce, it was moist and a little bland
- 2 orders of pad thai spring rolls served with tamarind dipping sauce, it was fantastic -- crunchy and flavorful
- 2 orders of caramelized shrimp with dried mushrooms, it was very good

Chicken lettuce wraps and Shrimp & chicken fritters

Pad thai spring rolls and Caramelized shrimp

As for entrees, here they were:
- 2 orders of black rice towel with beef flank and reduced soy (basically pad see ew), it was wonderful, the noodles were soft and the meat was tender
- 2 orders of black and white salmon, it was disappointing -- tasteless
- 1 order of massaman curry with organic chicken breast, peanut and potato, it was delicious, rich and very tasty -- we should have ordered 2 of this dish rather than the salmon
- 1 order of pad garlic with bokchoy and tofu, it was okay, nothing special
- 1 order of roasted duck with pineapple curry and fresh bamboo, it was fantastic, the meat was tender and the sauce was flavorful
- 1 order of green curry with tofu, eggplant and basil, it was pretty good

Black rice towel with beef flank and Black and white salmon

Massaman curry with organic chicken breast and Pad garlic

Roasted duck and Green curry with tofu

Since we planned to go to Bouchon Bakery after this, we didn't order any dessert from here. However when the waiter came bringing the check, he brought cheesecake for each of us, how nice! The cheesecake was creamy and rich, so yummy!

Cheesecake

After paying, we were off to the Time Warner Center for my "main entree" and more chit-chatting :-) Overall we were satisfied with both the food and service. This was a good and inexpensive place (especially lunch) to celebrate a birthday with some good friends.

**********

Highline
835 Washington St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 243-3339
http://www.nychighline.com

Late lunch at Spanish Tavern

2008-06-10T13:41:00.022-04:00

To celebrate R's birthday, we told him that we would like to take both him and his wife (B) out either for lunch or dinner on the weekend. We also asked him to pick a place either in New York or in New Jersey. Last Thursday he said that he read about the best independent restaurant in New Jersey named Spanish Tavern. He wondered if we would like to try it out, of course we said "ok" since we love to check out new restaurants (especially if they're supposed to be good). We set the reservation for late lunch / early dinner last Saturday at the Mountainside location.

When we arrived there, the big parking lot was half full. It was quite surprising considering it was neither lunch time nor dinner time. However when we entered the beautiful dining room, there were only 3 other tables that were occupied. We later found out there was a party at the private room downstairs.

R and B were already seated since we were 15 minutes late, sorry again guys. They patiently waited, whilst nibbling on the rolls. After we settled, the waiter took our orders. When he came back with our drinks, he and another waiter also brought a big bowl of the complimentary escarole and noodle soup. They doled out the soup tableside and served it to us. The soup was quite tasty. We restrained from asking for refills (which they offered).

Basket of rolls and Escarole & noodle soup

For appetizers, we ordered fried calamari and portobello mushroom to share. The calamari was okay, nothing special, soft but a little bit soggy. However the portobello mushroom was amazing, the perfectly grilled mushroom was covered with crab meat in a flavorful sauce. We liked it so much and decided to order another portion :-)

Fried calamari and Portobello mushroom

For entree, my husband ordered t-bone steak au poivre and for me was langostinos (read about this somewhere). Unfortunately the steak was cooked almost well done eventhough he asked for a medium. The meat was still tender though and the sauce was pretty good, however he didn't like it (I think he was still comparing everything to Peter Luger). The langostinos were excellent, I love it! This giant shrimp was grilled to perfection, still tender with a texture similar to lobster, and slightly spicy.

T-bone steak au poivre and Langostinos

B's entree was a broiled New Zealand lobster tail, it was huge. I was quite excited to try a bite of it, unfortunately it was a major disappointment. It was overcooked which made the texture became too tough and rubbery, it was totally not worth the price of $39.95. On the other hand, R's entree was delicious; it was veal corunesa with wine & brandy sauce and mushrooms. The organic veal was tender and the sauce was wonderful, just a perfect combination.

New Zealand lobster tail and Veal corunesa

Eventhough we were already full, we decided to order 2 desserts to share. No meal is complete without any dessert :-) Both the tartufo (vanilla and chocolate ice cream) and caramel flan was enjoyable but forgettable.

Tartufo and Caramel flan

Just before we left, more people started to come since it was almost dinner time. Overall, the food review was a mix -- half was fantastic, the other half was disappointing. The service was good, the waiter was quite nice. Personally, I don't think that we will go back again soon.

**********

Spanish Tavern
1239 Rt 22
Mountainside, NJ 07092
(908) 232-2171
http://www.spanishtavern.com/

Anniversary dinner at Per Se

2008-06-08T17:25:00.032-04:00

After hearing endless stories of how great Per Se is, we arrived there with a very high expectation. Even though we were still full from our earlier lunch at L'Atelier, we eagerly anticipated our experience at Per Se.

Per Se is located on the 4th flour at Time Warner Center. After walking across a nice small garden in the front area of the restaurant, we were welcomed by the famous blue double door. My husband noticed that there were sliding doors on each side of the blue double door, but I did not. So I walked to the blue door and tried to open it while he was laughing at me. Luckily the glass door slid opened and I realized my mistake :-)

We gave our name to the hostess who then graciously lead us the way across the waiting area to our big table (supposed to seat 4 people) in the main dining room. I guessed they must have reserved this table for a group instead of a couple, lucky for us they cancelled their reservation. As soon as we were seated, one of the server came bringing a small cushioned stool to put my purse.

The interior was spacious, elegant and lovely with enormous windows overlooking the beautiful Central Park. My husband said that it would be nice to see the Fall foliage from up here, wow, he could read my mind :-) The tables were widely spread covered with white tablecloths, there were white floral arrangements and candles on top. By the way, Chef Thomas Keller personally designed the silver pieces and the china that feature houndstooth pattern around the rim.

Then came our captain, who brought us the personalized menu since we told them that it would be our anniversary (they asked this over the phone a couple of days ago). I know it was easy to print our names on a piece of paper, but I still felt very special. There were 2 choices of tasting menus, the chef's tasting menu and the tasting of vegetables. The courses change everyday, but total number of courses remain at 9 (unless you're one of the VIP guests).

Since we mentioned that we don't really like to drink alcohol, we asked if they had any non-alcoholic beverages. Luckily there were 3 choices, I chose French sparkling apple cider and my husband chose pinot noir. As for the food, we intially were thinking of having one of each menu - so that we could try everything, but then we remembered that we are meat lovers (and they're priced equally). When our captain came back with our drinks, we told her that we chose the chef's tasting.

French sparkling apple cider and Non-alcoholic pinot noir

The food parade commenced, beginning with the amuse bouche which were Chef Thomas Keller's signature gruyere cheese gougeres followed by salmon cornets. The gougere was good -- warm, fluffy and filled with cream cheese. The salmon cornet was a small black sesame tuile cone filled with red onion creme fraiche, topped with Atlantic salmon tartare and garnished with a single chive. The tuile was crispy and buttery, the creme fraiche was tangy, the salmon was silky and melted in my mouth, just prefect.

Gruyere cheese gougeres and Salmon cornettes

When our first course arrived, the servers walked to our sides, then after pausing for a second as if to synchronize their moves, placed the plates down and simultaneously lifted small ceramic lids to reveal the oysters and pearls, a sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and sterling white sturgeon caviar. Each course followed the same choreographed service. Regarding the food, the sabayon was rich, the tapioca was cooked perfectly, the oyster was tender and the caviar was shockingly unsalty (in a good way). It was divine! By the way, there was a mother-of-pearl spoon that accompanied the plate since we shouldn't eat the caviar using a metal spoon, it would change the flavor of caviar.

Oysters and pearls

Then came the bread service, the selections were mini French baguette, Italian ciabatta, potato sour dough, Alsatian rye bread with duck fat and riesling, sweet brioche roll. I chose the rye bread which was very good -- crispy outside, soft inside. My husband chose the brioche which was sweet and tender. The bread came with 2 types of butter, salted butter with fleur de sel and sweet unsalted butter.

Basket of bread

For the second course, my husband had the non-supplement option which was salad of braised abalone mushroom with heirloom radishes, persian cucumber, petit shiso and goma vinaigrette. I opted for the supplemental one which was torchon of elevages perigord moulard duck foie gras with Sicilian pistachio butter, red wine poached brooks cherries, tokyo turnips and field mizuna. When it came to the foie gras, it was sweet and fatty, served with buttery toasted brioche. They kept bringing out more warm brioche, I literally took one bite from each piece and another fresh slice was delivered right in front of me. When I asked their simple answer was: it's better with warm brioche. I guess the warmth of the brioche was needed to help the foie gras became more spreadable. I'm still amazed up to this day.

Salad of braised abalone mushroom

Torchon of elevages perigord moulard duck foie gras

Our third course was sauteed fillet of Atlantic halibut with confit squid, fennel bulb, holland eggplant, sweet peppers with pattypan squash vinaigrette and pimenton oil. The halibut was firm in texture and delicate in taste with the sauce underneath that complimented it well, yet I felt that this dish was too bland for me.

Sauteed fillet of atlantic halibut

The next course was pan roasted Maine sea scallop with ragout of king richard leeks, yukon gold potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms with meyer lemon mousseline. The scallop was seared perfectly, firm on the outside, soft and sweet inside, it was wonderful.

Pan roasted maine sea scallop

Then came the next dish which was Cavendish farm's caille en crepinette with pickled ramps, applewood smoked bacon lardons, frisee salad with smoked hen egg emulsion and quail jus. The quail was moist and tender, the sauce was tasty and not overpowering, it was superb.

Cavendish farm's caille en crepinette

Next was the degustation of eden hollow farm's spring lamb with gnocchi Parisienne, greenmarket carrots, glazed sunchokes and split english peas with lamb jus. This featured a mini-tasting of seven preparations of lamb on one plate, on the photo from left: breast, shank, tenderloin, rack, sirloin, sausage and shoulder on top right. It was very interesting, but we found some were better than others.

Degustation of eden hollow farm's spring lamb

The cheese course was boerenkaas, slow baked beets with wood sorrel and violet mustard, served with lemon currant bread and walnut rye bread. The boerenkaas, which by definition is a handmade Gouda, had a creamy texture and sharp flavor, the beets added a sweet taste to it.

Boerenkaas

Finally it was time for the sweets, which itself was a production. It began with apricot sorbet, Nyons extra virgin olive oil pate de fruit with tellicherry pepper sable breton. The sorbet was light and refreshing, the olive oil pate de fruit was surprisingly good, the sable breton added some crunch to it, so yummy!

Apricot sorbet

My dessert was caraibe, caraibe meringue mousse, caramel cremeux, devil's food cake, golden pineapple and cashew ice cream. It was creamy, rich, chocolate-y, sweet, just delightful! My husband's dessert was glace a la fraise, strawberry biscuit, almond panna cotta and mint syrup with tristar strawberry ice cream. It was plated beautifuly, but the taste was even better -- soft, light, creamy, sweet, just delicious!

Caraibe and Glace a la fraise

The server brought me a miniature creme brulee, while for my husband was a miniature yogurt pot de creme with blueberry jam. They were creamy and not too sweet, pretty good.

Tahitian vanilla creme brulee and Yogurt pot de creme with blueberry jam

When we finished, another server came bringing a silver tray filled with assorted of chocolates: ginger caramel, rocher, lime, mocha, guanaja dark chocolate, honey thyme, mint, green apple. She asked if we would like to try one of each and we definitely would like to, eventhough our stomachs were already starting to burst.

Chocolates tray

Then came the mignardises: cocoa covered piedmont hazelnut in an off-white porcelain bisque covered bowl; butterscotches, sour cherry almond nougats and truffles (milk chocolate salted caramel, dark chocolate hazelnut cream, white chocolate toasted coconut) in a stunning silver staircase; assorted of housemade mini hard candies (chocolate, licorice, banana, orange, lime, cherry, mint).

Mignardises

We were done and ready to see the "damage", so my husband called one of the servers for the check since we didn't see our captain. Surprisingly when she came back, in addition to the check she also brought us 2 nicely packaged of florentine cookies to take home, how lovely! By the way, the florentine cookies were very good, soft and not too gooey.

Check and Florentine cookies

Our captain came and asked if we would like to see the kitchen, of course I said yes, but since my husband was too full to walk, I went by myself. I was given the grand tour of the kitchen and amazed at its cleanliness. There was a large, flat-screen television with live feed of French Laundry where Chef Thomas Keller spends more time at. They said that French Laundry also had the same thing, I guess this is a way for Chef Thomas Keller to monitor his restaurants. Unfortunately Chef Thomas Keller was not in that night, but I've already had an opportunity to meet him during his demonstration of sous-vide at International Restaurant & Foodservice Show back in March. Chef Jonathan Benno was there though, so I requested to have my picture taken with him, which he graciously allowed :-)

It took about 4 hours for us to complete the 9-course meal extravaganza. They were fantastic -- flawless presentations paired with a perfect combination of texture, scents and seasonings. The staff was very professional and knowledgeable yet very nice, friendly and helpful, attentive yet not intrusive. They were not intimidating at all, they made us felt at home and allowed us to fully appreciate each course without feeling being rushed.

Waiting area

During the dinner, we mentioned to our captain that we were lucky there was a cancellation. She informed us that there are only limited tables for two and they usually hold the tables for bigger parties. I was very surprised and disappointed since most of the time I go to fine dining restaurants only with my husband. However I understood why they do that, it usually takes 3-4 hours per sitting and they will make more money from a group of people rather than a couple.

On the way out, we noticed that there was a guestbook and I couldn't leave without writing something on it. The book was placed on top of a glass table and there was a set of stone blocks with some words engraved on it "one must read everything, observe everything, hear everything, try everything, see everything in order to retain", that's true.

"one must read everything, observe everything, hear everything, try everything, see everything in order to retain"

This was definitely a spectacular and memorable culinary experience, what a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary! We realize that this was the most expensive dinner we've ever had so far, however for those who really enjoy cuisine it is justified. We are looking forward to return, hopefully in the near future.

**********

Per Se
10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9335
http://www.perseny.com/

Anniversary lunch at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

2008-06-08T10:30:00.017-04:00

June is a busy month for us, a lot of celebrations: our anniversary, my birthday, my sister and my father-in-law's birthdays, plus one of our good friend's (R) birthday. For our anniversary, we wanted to have dinner at Per Se, however we incorrectly thought that they accept reservations 1 month in advance, when in fact they accept it 2 months in advance. So when my husband called they said that the day was totally booked :-( He asked to put us on the waiting list either for lunch or dinner since it's for our anniversary (plus a little begging here and there).

Then we decided to call L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon to see if we could make a dinner reservation there, luckily they had a table for us. So the plan was set for our anniversary celebration. Lo and behold, 2 days before the D-day, Per Se called and said that they had an opening for dinner, of course we said YES. We decided to call L'Atelier and change the reservation for lunch. Guess what, they didn't have our dinner reservation! It's good that we only needed lunch at L'Atelier, otherwise we would be very surprised.

On the day of, we left home around 10 am since our reservation was at noon. L'Atelier is located inside the Four Seasons Hotel, all the way in the back. We were the first customers to arrive since they had just opened for lunch when we got in. We were seated right away and given the menu. During lunch time in addition to the a la carte, they offered menu express which included choice of appetizer, entree and dessert. My husband chose the menu express: les saint jacques, la lotte and patisserie du jour. While I ordered from the full menu: l'anguille, la caille and le chocolat sensation.

While waiting for our food to arrive, we took some photos of the interior which was elegant, the colors were mainly red and black. You have a choice of sitting at the table in the dining room or at the counter with direct view of the kitchen. The latter supposedly gives you the full 'Robuchon' experience, but we would rather enjoy the comfy seats. The counter was decorated with displays of some fresh food, such as carrots, peas, bell peppers -- very unique.

The waiter brought us some bread to try: French roll, mini French baguette, black olive focaccia. The roll and baguette was okay, the crust was good but inside was a little bit too chewy for me. The focaccia on the other hand was soft and the saltiness of black olive made it more delicious.

Basket of bread

The amuse bouche was lemon vanilla gelee with vanilla cream and olive tapenade. It was good, the saltiness of the olive contrasted with sweetness of the cream and smoothness of the gelee.

Amuse bouche: lemon vanilla gelee with vanilla cream and olive tapenade

Les jacques was seared day boat scallops with an endive salad. The scallops were seared perfectly, it was slightly firm yet soft texture throughout and the endive added the crunchiness to it. It was simple and delicate. My husband didn't like the endive (too rough), but enjoyed the scallops very much.

Les saint jacques

L'anguille was caramelized eel layered with smoked foie gras, which was divine. Two of my favorite food came together on the same plate, it was perfect. The richness and smokiness of the foie gras went hand in hand with the sweetness of the eel, just thinking about this dish makes my mouth water :-) I almost ordered another one if not for our dinner reservation at Per Se right after this.

L'Anguille

La lotte was pan seared monkfish served with leek, ginger scented with saffron. The fish was firm yet light, the leek was soft, the sun-dried tomatoes was sweet and the pine nuts definitely added good texture to it. Unfortunately this was not our favorite, too bland for us.

La lotte

La caille was free-range caramelized quail stuffed with foie gras, potato puree. It was awesome! The quail was tender, the foie gras was melting in my mouth, both balanced each other very well. Regarding the famous potato puree, it was very smooth and buttery.

La caille

When all the food had been served, we decided to order additional 1 portion of les burgers to share. It was beef and foie gras burgers with lightly caramelized bell peppers, served with ginger ketchup. When came out, it was already split into 2 plates, 1 burger & 1 fries on each plate (normally they serve 2 burgers on the plate with the fries in the middle), how nice. The burger was very juicy, the foie gras was creamy and very fatty (in a good way), so incredible! The soft bun, the crunchy fries, the spicy yet sweet ketchup completed this dish.

Les burgers - half portion

The pre-dessert was banana and passion fruit cream with rum granite and coconut foam, very pleasant. The combination of sweet banana and tart passion fruit flavor, the mild rum and the tropical coconut taste was just perfect. It did its job to cleanse our palate to be ready for the next desserts.

Pre-dessert: banana and passion fruit cream with rum granite and coconut foam

Since we mentioned that we were celebrating our anniversary, the kitchen sent us this light and very refreshing dessert called les herbes which was pineapple vanilla coulis, Chartreuse sabayon, aromatic herb (cilantro, basil and parsley) sorbet.

Les herbes

The patisserie du jour was a selection of miniature tarts, consisting of sweet rhubarb, rich dark chocolate, tart lemon, sweet and salty peanut caramel, they were enjoyable but not outstanding.

Patisserie du jour: rhubarb, dark chocolate, lemon, peanut caramel tarts

Le chocolat sensation was chocolate cream, bitter chocolate sorbet and Oreo cookies. The crunchy bits of Oreo cookies added texture to the rich chocolate sorbet and cream, very good.

Le chocolat sensation

Then we asked for our check since it was almost 2 pm already. We planned to take a walk at Central Park to relax our stomachs since it was only several hours before our dinner reservation at Per Se. We were very satisfied with our lunch experience at L'Atelier, the food was delicious, the service was good, we'll definitely come back again.

**********

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
57 E 57th St
New York, NY 10022
(212) 350-6658
http://www.fourseasons.com/newyorkfs/dining.html

Desserts from Rice to Riches and Pinkberry

2008-06-04T19:07:00.010-04:00

On the way home from Otafuku, I wanted to have some desserts and remembered that I haven't been to Rice to Riches in a while. Unlike my husband, I love rice pudding and this is definitely the place to go. They have many flavors available and some of them are seasonal. That night I decided to get a medium mango and tiramisu for to go since the place was packed and no seats available.

Their rice pudding was very creamy and smooth, so yummy! The mango was wonderful, it was not too sweet and there was a little tartness coming from the lime in it. The tiramisu was delightful, it was chocolate-y and very rich. The portion was generous and with no help from my husband, of course I couldn't finish it that night, so I kept it refrigerated for the following day.

Surrender to mango and Take me to tiramisu

Then I noticed that there is a Pinkberry store couple doors down the road. I love their frozen yogurt, especially the green tea one. I heard that they have added a new coffee flavor in addition to the plain and green tea flavors. Of course I decided to go there and got a medium swirl of the three flavors with mango, strawberry and captain crunch toppings. As usual, it was tart, tangy and light, so addicted.

Swirl frozen yogurt (plain, green tea, coffee) with mango, strawberry and captain crunch

With belly full we headed back home, what a wonderful weekend.

**********

Rice to Riches
37 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 274-0008
http://www.ricetoriches.com/

Pinkberry
41 Spring St
New York NY 10012
(212) 274-8883
http://www.pinkberry.com/

Light take out dinner from Otafuku

2008-06-04T18:26:00.013-04:00

Since we were still full with omusubi, we decided to only have a light dinner at Otafuku. This place is very small, a hole-in-the-wall type of an establishment (I think they barely quality as a storefront). We came at the perfect time since there was no line that night, very unusual.

The menu is very limited -- takoyaki, okonomiyaki or yakisoba, plus some drink; and very affordable. They have the BEST takoyaki we've ever tasted, crispy outside, moist inside, very tasty, sweet, spicy, just fantastic!

Takoyaki is fried dumpling ball filled with ginger, scallion and choice of octopus, cheese or plain. While okonomiyaki is Japanese style pancake filled with shredded cabbage and choice of pork, beef, shrimp, squid or corn with scallion. Then both of them are covered with sweet brown sauce, mayonnaise, powdered seaweed and bonito flakes.

Takoyaki with octopus and Okonomiyaki with pork

During this visit, we got the combination of takoyaki and yakisoba (the picture below was taken during our previous visit), as well as a piece of red bean chestnut dorayaki. As expected, the takoyaki was awesome and the yakisoba was delicious, just perfect! That was the first time we bought their dorayaki, it was very good -- moist and fluffy.

Takoyaki with octopus & Yakisoba and Red bean chestnut dorayaki

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Otafuku
236 E 9th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 353-8503

Take out from Oms/b

2008-06-04T17:09:00.014-04:00

After having early lunch at Trois Crepes Patisserie, we decided to stop by at Oms/b to get some take out for our late lunch. We have been here before and really enjoy their omusubi (rice ball). Omusubi is not a form of sushi even though it is similar to sushi. The difference between these two is: omusubi is made with plain or lightly salted rice, sushi is made of rice with vinegar added to it.

I knew that I should not go too late if I wanted to have more selections available. Unfortunately that day when I arrived even at 1 pm, they didn't have much left already, so I only bought a few rice balls: eel, shrimp pop corn, football rice, shrimp tempura and lobster salad. Not only they looked adorable, they were very tasty too.

Omusubi: eel, shrimp pop corn, football rice, shrimp tempura and lobster salad

Here are some more photos from our previous visits.

Omusubi: shrimp tempura, football rice, chicken mix rice, eel, hijiki, salmon croquette, shrimp pop corn and crab salad

Omusubi: wasabi shrimp, fried salmon burger, gorgeous football rice & lobster salad (left) and Bonito flakes, football rice, shrimp dumpling & fried chicken (right)

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Oms/b
156 East 45th St.
New York, NY 10017
(212) 922-9788
http://www.riceball-omsb.com/

Early lunch at Trois Crepes Patisserie

2008-06-04T16:12:00.009-04:00

Last Saturday we went to Trois Crepes Patisserie to have an early lunch before heading out to Long Island. It was not easy to find the store, but after making several u-turns we finally found it. The place was very small and cozy, there were only few tables and chairs. When we got in, there were only 2 other guests occupying one of the tables. By the way, we saw a notice on the entrance saying that the business on this location was for sale.

Browsing through the display cases, I was very disappointed since there were only a few selections. I asked the nice lady behind the counter about the desserts and she told me that they don't have desserts on the weekends :-( We finally decided to have croissant, French ham & Swiss cheese crepe and chestnut cream crepe. The croissant was very good -- flaky, chewy and buttery. Both the savory and the sweet crepes were excellent, thin and soft, especially considering they were pre-made and reheated.

Croissant

French ham & Swiss cheese crepe and Chestnut cream crepe

I knew that I wanted to try their macarons, so I bought one of each: chocolate, raspberry and pistachio. I also got the plain and pistachio madeleines, as well as 2 kinds of chocolates (gavottes and dark chocolate praline). I didn't try any of these until 2 days later, at that time the macarons were very dry while the madeleines were surprisingly still moist.

Chocolate, raspberry & pistachio macarons and Plain & pistachio madeleines

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Trois Crepes Patisserie
501 East 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
(888) 3CREPES
http://www.3crepes.com/

Dinner at Mitsuwa Marketplace

2008-06-01T14:00:00.009-04:00

As far as I remember, my husband and I have never had dinner at Mitsuwa before even though we go there very often. We usually go on the weekend and only for lunch, so last night was a rare occassion. Suddenly we both were craving for the soba from Kayaba in Mitsuwa's food court. Last week when we were there for the Umaimon gourmet food fair, we didn't have that amazing and mouth watering soba.

In addition to the soba for both of us (kitsune for him and tempura for me), my husband also wanted to have their unagi don, so he ordered the set. For me, I got the mini one as well as ebikaki age and ajitsuke age from Sanuki Sando Udon. The soba was wonderful as usual, the noodle itself was al dente and the soup was incredible. The ajitsuke age was very good too, sweet and tasty, but unfortunately the inside of ebikaki age was still uncooked and pasty even though the outside was crunchy.

Unagi don rice bowl set with mini kitsune soba and Mini tempura soba from Kayaba

Ebikaki age and Ajitsuke age from Sanuki Sando Udon

For the dessert, I decided to buy the cream yaki from Oishinbo. They were still piping hot and perfect, spongy and moist cake with creamy filling. Unlike last week, these cream yaki were cooked all the way through. One of my hobbies is collecting almost anything, including pictures of cream yaki's zodiac patterns. When buying cream yaki in the past, I kept forgetting which zodiac pattern that I didn't have yet. Last night I got the whole set of them so that my collection would be complete, so finally here are the complete set of 12 zodiac pattern cream yaki.

Cream yaki set: rabbit, ox, horse, dragon, sheep, rooster, tiger, rat, snake, monkey, boar, dog

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Mitsuwa Marketplace
595 River Road
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 941-9113
http://www.mitsuwanj.com/en/

Dinner at Bien Hoa

2008-06-01T13:05:00.010-04:00

Last Tuesday, we were in a mood for Vietnamese food. We went to Bien Hoa since their food was delicious and I especially love their quails. Not every Vietnamese restaurants have quails in their menu, so this is one of the reasons why we keep coming back to this place.

That night we ordered goi du du (papaya salad with beef jerky), cha gio (Vietnamese egg rolls), com tam suon bi cha trung ga (grilled pork chop with shredded pork, crab meat patty and egg on broken rice), and of course chim cut ro ti (roasted quails). As expected, all of the food was delicious! The papaya salad was crunchy with sweet and sour taste coming from the sauce, also they were not skimpy with the beef jerky. The egg rolls was hot and crispy, while the pork chop was tender and excellent. Last but not least was the quails, they were amazing, the meat was tender and very tasty.

Goi du du and Cha gio

Com tam suon bi cha trung ga and Chim cut ro ti

By the way, we tried one of their pho during our previous visit, but unfortunately the soup was not that tasty. If I remember correctly, the ones from Pho Anh Dao tasted better last time we had them. It has been a long time since we went there, so we plan to give them a visit when the weather gets cooler.

Pho xe lua

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Bien Hoa
2090 State Route 27
Edison, NJ 08817
(732) 287-9500

Another try of White Castle

2008-05-31T18:21:00.012-04:00

The first time I had a White Castle burger was at the end of December 1999 during my lunch break. I bought it from a vending machine and came in 2, so I ate one and took the other home for my husband (my boyfriend at that time) since he had never tried it either. From that point on, we both decided that we wouldn't buy any more of their burger. It was really bad, soggy and tasteless. We guessed it might be because it was not fresh, but we still didn't want to buy it anymore.

One day at the end of last year, out of the blue Y told me that she likes White Castle a lot. She said their burger is very good and fresh, she can even eat up to 3 burgers in one sitting. Wow, I was very surprised since she is a skinny girl and based on my bad experience almost a decade ago I didn't know what to say.

Then this year I saw a lot of White Castle's advertisements on TV and that made me think of their burger. Last Sunday my husband and I finally stopped by a White Castle and bought several items to go: chicken rings, hamburger, cheeseburger, and their new chicken italiano. All of them were surprisingly excellent, way beyond our expectation! The bread was soft, the meat was tasty, and the onions made it even better. Their small size is another good thing about these burger, it made me feel less guilty for eating fast food :-)

Chicken rings and Hamburger

Cheeseburger and Chicken italiano

Overall, we're glad that we decided to give them another try. I'll try their breakfast items on my next visit one of these days.

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White Castle
http://www.whitecastle.com/

Umaimon gourmet food fair at Mitsuwa Marketplace

2008-05-31T16:44:00.026-04:00

We love to go to Mitsuwa, especially when they have a special event since there will be a lot of food that they don't normally carry. Last Saturday we went for the Umaimon gourmet food fair. During that time, they had a takoyaki booth where several "tako-yaki meisters" came straight from Japan only to make these special octopus dough balls at the store. These men made them very fast: poured the batter into the round molds of the takoyaki pan; sprinkled pieces of octopus, red ginger, spring onions on top; waited for several minutes before flipping these balls. Finally they placed several of them into each box, covered them with sweet brown sauce (okonomiyaki sauce), mayonnaise, powdered seaweed and bonito flakes.

The making of takoyaki

We came pretty early on that day so there was no line, lucky for us, otherwise we would have to wait for at least 30 minutes. This takoyaki was pretty good, especially if you ate them while they were still piping hot. It was crispy outside and a little runny inside, spicy and sweet at the same time, so yummy! Even though this was delicious, we still prefer the one from Otafuku in Manhattan since theirs was more crispier, runnier and tastier -- just better in our opinions :-)

Kukuru - takoyaki

In addition to takoyaki, we also bought that day's special: the whole shark fin in salt ramen. It was more expensive compare to the other food at the food court. The taste was a little bit too bland, but still enjoyable, especially since there were enough amount of the shark fin itself, even though I would be happier if there were more :-)

Chibakiya - whole shark fin in salt ramen from China Table Tokyo Hanten

I also got crab cream and corn croquettes from the special booth, they were fantastic, crunchy outside with tasty and creamy filling.

Kuriyama hokkaido - croquettes: crab cream and corn

From the regular food court vendor, I ordered a couple of cream yaki, hoping that they will taste better this time. The crust looked promising, but unfortunately the inside was still a little uncooked and mushy, same problem as last time. The ajitsuke age (fried bean curd wrap) was as good as usual, sweet and tasty.

Cream yaki from Oishinbo and Ajitsuke age from Sanuki Sando Udon

For the dessert, I ordered the green tea parfait, it was a perfect combination of creamy green tea and vanilla ice cream, crunchy flakes and sweet red bean paste, so amazing! Some of our friends who also came to this fair ordered the strawberry parfait and said that it was very good too -- vanilla ice cream, flakes, fresh bananas and strawberries.

Green tea parfait and Strawberry parfait from UCC Cafessa

Another special food that I liked at this fair was the one that I called squid crackers, sorry I don't know how to read Japanese so I don't know its official name. This thing was so thin and so crispy, just awesome! Last year when we went to this same fair, I only bought one package which I regretted later. So this time I decided that I would not make the same mistake and bought 5 packages :-) Originally I wanted to buy more, but their expiration date was in 2 months. This cracker was so addictive, once I ate it I couldn't stop eating only one piece.

Squid crackers on display and opened

I also bought more food to take home:
- Komeko dango (skewered sweet dango): sesame, cherry blossom, red bean, mitarashi sugar-soy sauce -- chewy, it was okay
- Sanshoku bento: basically it was rice covered with 3 colorful toppings -- very good and flavorful, it was awesome
- Stick candy sweet potato with skin -- sweet and crunchy, it was fantastic
- Butter and plain dorayaki -- fluffy and moist at the same time, it was delicious
- Inari okowa (red bean rice / tea okowa rice): nanohana green, chestnut, crab flakes -- sticky, sweet and tasty, it was delightful.

Shinkineya - komeko dango and Kaisen - sanshoku bento

Stick candy sweet potato with skin and Furuya koganean - butter dorayaki and plain dorayaki

Shinkineya - inari okowa

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Mitsuwa Marketplace
595 River Road
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 941-9113
http://www.mitsuwanj.com/en/index.htm

Otafuku
236 E 9th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 353-8503

My favorite Indonesian desserts

2008-05-31T13:57:00.016-04:00

Before we left for Chicago, E and Y gave us some Indonesian desserts that I haven't had in a long time: martabak manis (sweet thick pancakes) and bika ambon (honeycomb cake). Last month they told me one of their relatives were going to visit from Indonesia, and if I wanted anything from back home. Without any hesitation, I immediately requested for these.

I had put them in the freezer and decided not to eat them until we returned home from Chicago. Not because I didn't want to indulge them immediately, but I just wanted to make sure that my stomach was in perfect condition for tasting PH's creations. I have a pretty sensitive stomach, so I'm afraid to eat any food that my stomach isn't used to have anymore.

The martabak manis was amazingly delicious, the taste was as good as I remembered. This one was filled with chocolate, peanuts and cheese. It is also sprinkled with sugar and drizzled with condensed milk on top of the filling. Martabak manis is one of my favorite desserts since I was young, but unfortunately noone here can make martabak manis as good as this particular one. If you are wondering what it tastes like, here is the answer: the taste is similar to a pancake, but thicker, softer, fluffier, sweeter, tastier and richer :-)

Martabak manis - chocolate, peanuts and cheese

I tried making these several times, but the results were still not as perfect as the original ones that are usually sold by street vendors in Indonesia. The ones that I made, the taste was good, but the texture was only okay. I thought it was because I didn't use the special pan for making martabak manis. My big brother, who loves me very much, even brought me 2 regular martabak manis pans and 1 small one, complete with the special range and pipe for it. The only thing I needed to get before I could use the range was the propane that is usually used for cooking if you go camping. Unfortunately when I made the martabak manis again using this pan, I was still not satisfied with the texture. I guess if I want to eat a perfect martabak manis, I need more practice or just wait until I visit Indonesia.

Bika ambon

The bika ambon was awesome, it was soft but chewy at the same time, rich and fragrant, I could smell the kafir lime leaves in it. The best bika ambon I've ever tasted back in Indonesia was the one that was bought from Medan. This one was not from Medan, but it was still very good. I've never tried to make this cake myself since I heard that it's not easy to get the perfect texture -- that "honeycomb" look. No wonder I haven't found anyone who sells bika ambon here.

It has been several years since I ate a very good martabak manis and bika ambon like these. I love them a lot, especially the martabak manis. My husband like them too, but not as much as I do. Thanks again guys, I really appreciate it!

Lunch at Bistro 110 and Dinner at Old Town Brasserie, Chicago

2008-05-30T10:26:00.016-04:00

When I received my class schedule from the school about a month ago, I noticed that I would have lunch from Bistro 110 and Everest, then dinner at chef Art Smith's house who owns Table Fifty-Two. From what I read on the internet they have positive reviews, so I asked my husband if he would like to go to Bistro 110 and Table Fifty-Two. Unfortunately he couldn't get a reservation at Table Fifty-Two, so he did some more research and came up with Old Town Brasserie. He decided to have lunch at Bistro 110 since it was located near our hotel (Park Hyatt Chicago) so he could just walk there, then had dinner at Old Town Brasserie before picking me up at the school.

Here's what he had to say about his lunch and dinner.
One of the best attribute of Bistro 110 was it's location, next to Michigan avenue and overlooking the Old Water Tower park. He actually got a window seat, which gave him plenty of sunshine for taking pictures, also important. The staffs were also quite friendly, without being too overbearing. Glancing through the menus, he went for the 'safe' choices (and a few recommendations from our research).

First came the bread basket, which included a warm baguette (nice), section of butter and roasted garlic. Good start so far. Then came the French onion soup, which unfortunately was disappointingly thin. Don't even bother with this.

Bread, butter & roasted garlic and French onion soup

For the main entree, he ordered croque monsieur with a side of pommes frites 110. The croque monsieur was apparently another bad choice -- seems they have trouble with classic French bistro staples. The brioche was thin and plain, and overall didn't taste too good. He didn't finish this at all.

The pommes frites were crispy and thin. It was very interesting, and tasted pretty good. The problem was because of the crispiness it was a little hard to eat and some pieces were flying around. He also didn't want to get his hands dirty, which made it even tougher for him to enjoy (imagine using fork & knife).

Croque monsieur and Pommes frites 110

Unnerved, he decided to go all the way with dessert. After asking for recommendations from the waiter, it came down to really 2 choices: the creme brulee or the chocolate cake. The creme brulee was apparently made famous when they first opened, i.e. their signature dessert. However, the chocolate cake (gateau "paradis au chocolat") was the new signature dessert. Given his disappointment with Bistro 110's classic French fare, and after hearing the explanations, he went for the chocolate cake. Thank goodness. It was really, really good -- the only dish that he actually enjoyed. The cake was moist, not too sweet with good chocolate flavor, and the caramel sauce let you control the sweetness. He said it literally melted in his mouth and one of the best he's had.

Gateau paris au chocolat

The dinner at Old Town Brasserie, though, went a little better. Since he had a 5:30 PM reservation, it was quite empty except for the bar area in the front. After asking for some recommendations from the waitress (and cross checking with my recommendations) he made his choices.

First off he was given an amuse bouche of parmesan cheese gougere. For appetizer, he had the terrine d'artichauts et coeur de palmier (artichoke & hearts of palm terrine). Very nicely plated, but he found parts of it too mushy while others were crunchy -- resulting in an uneven texture, and the flavor was a little bland.

For soup, he had the quite famous duck consomme. The consomme had a very strong flavor, maybe a little salty, that you can feel the duck fat on your lips. The truffle ravioli and vegetables gave a nice balance to the flavor, but duck was clearly the main flavor.

Gougere parmesan cheese

Terrine d'artichauts et coeur de palmier and Duck consomme

The main entree was an easy choice, he had the duo carre d'agneau et boeuf (rack of lamb and beef). He originally wanted the lamb cooked medium, but when told the chef recommended medium rare, he went with the recommendation. It turned out to be a wise choice. The lamb was really tender and juicy, in fact this was the first time my husband truly enjoyed rack of lamb. The beef was also well braised and very tender. The accompanying ratatouille and sauce complemented the meats very well. He finished this one without hesitation and highly recommends this dish.

Duo carre d'agneau et boeuf

To finish the meal, he had the hazelnut souffle, which he said was also a good choice. I couldn't get a good description of it from him other than how much he enjoyed it. They also gave him some shortbread cookies and pates de fruits, which he brought back to the hotel for me to try (PH won, of course).

Hazelnut souffle and Shortbread cookies & Apricot pates de fruits

As soon as we were back at the hotel, we went straight to bed since we had to wake up early to head home. I still couldn't believe that the 2-day Pierre Hermé class has over and I just had once in a lifetime experience, WOW! Thanks a lot to my husband for everything, especially for driving me all the way to Chicago only to attend my dream class. I love you, you are the BEST!

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Bistro 110
110 East Pearson Street
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 266-3110
http://www.levyrestaurants.com/Levy/DiningExperiences/Restaurants/Group4/Bistro+110.htm

Old Town Brasserie
1209 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312)943-3000

Table Fifty-Two
52 W Elm St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 573-4000
http://www.tablefifty-two.com/

Dinner at Custom House and Deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's, Chicago

2008-05-30T09:27:00.016-04:00

After droping me off for my first day of Pierre Hermé class at the French Pastry School, my husband went back to the hotel for more sleeping. I guessed he was still tired after driving for about 14 hours 2 days ago. On the way, he decided to pick up a sandwich from Fox & Obel for his lunch, unfortunately he said that it was a disappointment. The store itself, however, was pretty good.

Fox & Obel's Gunthorp's ham and white cheddar

For dinner he went to Custom House, I remembered he made a reservation through Opentable after reading positive reviews about it. Here's what he had to say about his dinner.
The first thing you'd notice about the interior is how clean and open it was. It was located in the Blake hotel building, so you might occasionally see hotel guests dining in.
The waiter told him that they had just lifted the ban on foie gras, so they were offering the foie gras brulee on the menu again. Of course he ordered this, and he said it was amazingly good. Rich foie gras covered by a thin layer of torched sugar, and sprinkled with macademia nuts shavings. The combination of taste & texture was just perfect on the mini brioche toasts. This was his favorite.

Foie gras brulee

For the main entree he chose the bone in short rib with an extra side of potato gratin. The short rib came braised in a crock pot, with two horseradish cream puffs. The waiter recommended this, but my husband didn't find it special, skip unless you like braised ribs.
The side of potato gratin though, was really good. Thin slices of potatoes with rich butter and cream.

Bone in short rib and Gratin

For dessert, there were several nice choices from the menu, but they also offered a tasting dessert, which he went for. There were 4 components to this dish, with mixed results. The vanilla bavarian and beignet was really good, a little like panna cotta. The smores looked really nice, but tasted a little bitter. Lemon pound cake with candied ginger and vanilla ice cream was just average. The rhubarb jam shortbread cookies were surprisingly good. Overall a pretty good finish.

Sweet tasting, clockwise from top left: Vanilla bavarian, beignet; Smores, toasted marshmallows, dark chocolate; Rhubarb jam shortbread cookies; Lemon pound cake, candied ginger, vanilla ice cream

I read that Lou Malnati's and Gino's East have the best deep dish pizza in Chicago, since Lou Malnati's was located on the way to the French Pastry School I asked my husband to stop by there to buy a deep dish pizza before picking me up that night. The pizza was good, but personally both my husband and I still like the thin crust pizza more. Sorry Chicago, New York wins this one.

Deep dish cheese pizza, individual size

What a nice way to end the night...

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Fox & Obel
401 E. Illinois
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 410-7301
http://www.fox-obel.com/

Custom House
500 S. Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 523-0200
http://www.customhouse.cc/

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
439 North Wells Street
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 828-9800
http://www.loumalnatis.com/

My second day of Pierre Hermé class in Chicago -- Part 2

2008-05-29T21:01:00.046-04:00

Coming back from lunch, Chef Jean Joho talked a little bit and introduced his team. Apparently both Chef Pierre Hermé and he were originally from Alsace, France.

Chef Pierre Hermé and Chef Jean Joho

Then Chef Joho left and PH continued with his demonstration on putting the finishing touches on the Vanilla Tart and Tarte Ispahan -- the results were stunning!

Finishing the Vanilla Tart

Finishing Tarte Ispahan

He also put the finishing touch on the new creation, as well as on both of the Emotion Depayse and Emotion Ispahan. They looked amazing!

Emotion Depayse

Emotion Ispahan

Before going for the afternoon break, PH started to assemble the Revelation and put it in the refrigerator to let it set.

Assembling the Revelation

During the break we got to taste Java, one of his chocolate that was brought from France. I'm originally from Java island in Indonesia, so I was proud to see that name even though I'm not sure if he named it after my island :-) The tea paired with it was 2004 vintage ancient tree pu-erh.

Java and 2004 vintage ancient tree pu-erh tea

When I returned from the break I realized that the end of class was near, I was kind of sad, but at the same time happy that I would be able to finally taste all PH creations that were made by the Master himself.

The classroom

PH put a finishing touch on the Revelation, before finally concluding the demonstration by putting the finishing touch on Ispahan Entremet, his signature creation.

Revelation

Ispahan Entremet

The master and his most famous creation - Ispahan Entremet

I almost forgot to mention that he always washed his hands and cleaned the table after he finished with every single recipe -- a very good habit to follow.

Washing his hands and cleaning the table after he finished with every single recipe

By the way, in between the demonstrations, they took a class picture. I still haven't received the picture yet, but I'll put it up when I do.

He ended the class by saying "be yourself and do what you want to do, do not do what others want you to do and do not be someone else, then you'll be known for it".

Pierre Hermé wrapping up the class

Then we went down to the lobby to taste all the products that were created during these past 2 days. Before that we were having the champagne from Alsace (the Rosé) while they were setting up the dessert buffet.

Champagne Brut Rosé and rack full of PH's creations

When I entered the room, I thought that I have died and went to Heaven :-) There were beautiful looking desserts everywhere!!! We were greeted by Ispahan Entremet that were on the table located on the right side of the room, followed by Emotion Ispahan.

Ispahan Entremet and Emotion Ispahan

Then on the table next to them were Vanilla Tart and Tarte Ispahan.

Vanilla Tart and Tarte Ispahan

Next table there were Revelation, Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace and Emotion Depayse.

Revelation and Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace

Emotion Depayse

On the left side of the room, there was the macaron table that was filled with trays of Macaron Ispahan, Macaron Satine, Black Truffle Macaron, Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron.

The macaron table - Macaron Ispahan, Macaron Satine, Black Truffle Macaron, Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron

Macaron Ispahan and Macaron Satine

Black Truffle Macaron and Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron

While next to this table was a table for the new creation.

Before we were able to try them all, we were given the certificates. Jacquy called each of us and took our individual picture with PH -- there was a professional photographer who did this job. I also asked Patty to take a photo using my camera, but unfortunately it came out blurry, as you can see here.

Then there was a book signing opportunity and I brought my PH10 -- the book was very heavy. I didn't know that the book signing would take place while we were enjoying the desserts, so I almost missed that. Luckily I noticed that he was going to leave and asked if he could sign my book before he left.

PH signing my PH10 book

All the desserts were amazing, they tasted as good as they look! My favorite was the Ispahan Entremet and the Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron. In the beginning I was not sure how the taste would be, combining the "savory" foie gras with the "sweet" macaron, but the result was out of this world. It was a sweet one and as PH said "there is no savory macaron". Luckily for us they lifted the ban on the foie gras in Chicago only 2 days before the class started (on Friday), otherwise we wouldn't be able to taste this macaron. By the way, both the Black Truffle Macaron and the Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron are sold at €10 per piece and last Christmas in Paris they sold a total of 320 lbs (pounds), wow!

Since unfortunately we were only given a limited amount of time to try all of them, most of us couldn't finish each of the dessert by ourselves so we shared, one bite of each items except the macarons. Even though I had a very high sugar tolerance, at that time I started to have a sugar rush and I didn't have any water to "help" me. I was disappointed that I had to gulp them down without being able to fully enjoy them. The school should have given us a container in the beginning so that we can take back with us one of each items if we could not eat them there, that would've been much better.

After this we got ready for the reception that was scheduled to start at 6 pm. There were a lot of food prepared by the school and most of them were (more) desserts -- there was one big table filled with Pierre Hermé creations. We were a little bit surprise to see those since we thought that we were the only ones who would taste his creations, but we were happy when we noticed that not all the desserts we tasted were there -- only Emotion Ispahan, Emotion Depayse, Macaron Ispahan, Macaron Satine and Black Truffle Macaron.

Wines, Champagnes and Bottled water

Rocher and Caramel

Left: Ananas rôti à la vanille de Tahiti, crème glacée à la noix de coco grilée
Right: Tarte au chocolat amer noir Saint-Domingue

Left: Tomato gazpacho
Right: Tarte aux fruits et à la vanille bourbon

Left: Saumon fumé maison
Right: La fameuse tartine rustique de John et Betsy

Le buffet de Pierre Hermé - Emotion Ispahan, Emotion Depayse, Macaron Ispahan, Macaron Satine and Black Truffle Macaron

Left: Braisé de porc en galette de blé noir, cole slaw de fenouil, pomme et noix
Right: Potage vichyssois

Left: Earl grey chocolate bar
Right: La daube de bœuf à Michel

Around 7 pm there was a small ceremony to officially end this event. Jacquy thanked Chef Pierre Hermé and Mickaël, then presented plaques and books to each of them. PH said that he was very satisfied and impressed with French Pastry School. Then Sébastien toasted everyone who helped make the event ran smoothly.

Mickaël and Pierre Hermé accepting their plaques

Pierre Hermé and Sébastien giving speeches

Before we finaly said our good bye to each other, some of us took pictures with the Chefs.

Chef Mickaël Marsollier, moi, and Chef Pierre Hermé

With Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer and Chef Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F.

By the way, when I passed by the PH dessert table on the way down, I saw that there were still lots and lots Macarons and Emotions left. If only I had a container, I would ask for a permission to take some more home. I only hoped that they didn't throw them away. That would be a sin!

I couldn't believe that the class was already over, I guess time flies when you have so much fun. That night I left very tired but very happy. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could try out the recipes.

By the way, I took one of each Macarons back with me for my husband to try. He was blown away and loved all of them too. Even though they were not perfectly shape anymore, I could still take the pictures of them (again) -- except for the Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron which was totally crushed.

In closing I would like to say:
* Thank you Chef Pierre Hermé for these 2 wonderful days, you have taught me a lot and you might not know how much you have inspired me all this time. You are the best!
* Thank you Mickaël for helping in preparing all the stuffs needed for the demonstration so that the class could run smoothly, as well as in finishing the products so that we could taste them. You are very friendly!
* Thank you Jacquy, Sébastien, Anne and all the staff at French Pastry School for organizing this once in a lifetime opportunity, as well as for selecting me to be one of the lucky attendees. You all are very nice people!

With this I end the story about my 2-day Pierre Hermé class in Chicago. I hope you all can share my amazing and unforgettable experience through these posts, I've tried to write as much details as possible. My husband has reminded me not to write a "novel", but I couldn't resist posting the important stuffs, which in my opinion means everything. :-)

**********

Pierre Hermé Paris
http://www.pierreherme.com

French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com

My second day of Pierre Hermé class in Chicago -- Part 1

2008-05-29T16:50:00.042-04:00

When I woke up that morning I felt very good, I was better rested than the previous day. I forgot if I've mentioned that I had sore throat since Thursday. I took Airborne for 2 days and on Friday afternoon my sore throat was gone. I was so happy that I felt better, otherwise I wouldn't be able to enjoy all the wonderful food, especially PH's macaron.

After I was ready in a full chef uniform, we went down to get our car. Again it was not there yet eventhough we had called 15 minutes earlier, they said we should call 10 minutes before we needed the car, what a bad service! We had to wait for 10 minutes, I was so disappointed but wouldn't let this ruin my day -- even though I was getting nervous that we would be late. We went to pick up Patty and then straight to French Pastry School.

We arrived just before 8 am, so I quickly changed to the school chef jacket and then went straight to the table for breakfast. For breakfast we had potato latkes with smoked salmon, caviar and creme fraiche, bread and apricot jam. The potato latkes was very good, not greasy at all, but I didn't try the bread nor the jam, I don't really like to eat a lot for breakfast. I had midnight jasmine bloom tea, orange juice and sparkling water. By the way, look who's sitting across from my table!

Left: Basket of bread and butter
Right: Apricot jam

Left: Potato latkes with smoked salmon, caviar and creme fraiche
Right: Looking across my table

Left: Midnight jasmine bloom
Right: Sparkling water and Orange juice

Then the class started with a wonderful surprise gift from Chef Pierre Hermé. Jacquy said that PH was nice enough to give us one more recipe from one of his latest creations which will be release in December. Later I found out from Mickaël that PH really liked teaching our class -- glad to hear that.

He began showing us how to make that product. I couldn't go into detail about this now, but I will post an update when he has the official press release. All I can say is it was amazing!

Moving on to the next demonstration which was finishing the tomato puff pastry from yesterday -- we went back and forth several times to the sheeter machine since the dough needed to rest (chilled in the refrigerator) in between step. By the way, on this second day PH mostly did the assembly and put the finishing touch.

Passing the tomato puff pastry through the sheeter machine

From here he started to assemble Tarte Ispahan and Vanilla Tart. He said to prebake the tart shell all the way, otherwise it would taste floury.

Assembling the Tarte Ispahan and Vanilla Tart

The next one he did was finishing Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron. I love foie gras a lot, but I was not sure if I would like this, so I was very curious to taste it.

Finishing the Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron

We went for the morning break and I had a chance to try his pâtes de fruits that he brought from France. I might be biased, but I liked them since they were not too sweet like others do. The interesting thing was all his pâtes de fruits comes in two layers of different flavors. The ones that we tried were Satine (orange, passion fruit, apricot), Montebello (raspberry, pistachio) and Ispahan (litchi, raspberry, rose). I had first flush darjeeling for drink, it was good especially since I love darjeeling tea. There was espresso too, but I don't drink coffee anymore.

Assortment of pâtes de fruits and First flush Darjeeling tea

Espresso and Honey

After the break he assembled the new creation, as well as both Emotion Depayse and Emotion Ispahan. He weighed each components for the Emotion -- except the top part he just filled in the glass since everything else had been weighed in. He said the weight is important for the balance of the flavor.

Assembling the Emotion Depayse and Emotion Ispahan

He assembled Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace and then we went to the dining table for lunch.

Assembling Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace

The lunch was prepared by Chef Jean Joho, owner of Everest and Brasserie Jo: charcuterie and pâté, salad, braised salt pork belly with potato and horseradish sauce. I liked them all, so yummy! I had fields of France rooibos tea, it was too strong for me. We also had morbier cheese, bread and grilled corn ice cream with hazelnut cookies. I didn't really like the cheese, but I loved the hazelnut cookies that came with the ice cream -- if only I could get the recipe for it. About the ice cream itself, it was good but I couldn't really taste the corn on it, for me it tasted like regular vanilla ice cream.

Left: Charcuterie and Pâté
Right: Assortment of salad

Left: Salad
Right: Braised salt pork belly with potato

Left: Fields of France rooibos tea
Right: Morbier cheese and bread

Grilled corn ice cream with hazelnut cookies

I'll continue the story on my next post since this is already a long one.

**********

Pierre Hermé Paris
http://www.pierreherme.com

French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com

My first day of Pierre Hermé class in Chicago -- Part 2

2008-05-28T20:35:00.000-04:00

After the morning break, we went back to the classroom for more demonstration. Chef Pierre Hermé made several other recipes before he started making the one thing that I had been waiting for a long time: macaron. He uses Italian meringue for his macarons biscuit and ganache for most of the fillings. He said to let the macaron sits overnight in the refrigerator after filling it.

Macaron biscuit batter

Someone asked what is a perfect macaron in his opinion. He said that he likes a lot of filling on it and the macaron has to be moist but not chewy.

He only did the pink macaron biscuit since all other macaron biscuits would have the same technique. He uses this pink macaron biscuit for the Ispahan creations (Macaron Ispahan, Ispahan Entremet, Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace, Emotion Ispahan and Tarte Ispahan).

Piping the macaron biscuit batter for Macaron Ispahan and Ispahan Entremet

In case you want to know, here's the Ispahan Entremet recipe that I found on the internet, sorry I'm too lazy to type.

PH then started talking about last year's theme which was called Entre, meaning "between". There were 4 different products: Infini, Revelation, Extase, Indulgence. It came in an elegant black porcelain dish that was especially made for him. This product was available exclusively through his shops in Paris and only made-to-order, since it has to be consumed within 1 day. He said it could feed 6-8 people and the cost was €155 (which currently is about US$240), wow! He would show us how to make Revelation when we came back from lunch.

Pierre Hermé talking about Entre

We had lunch that was prepared by Chef Dominique Tougne from Bistro 110: lentil soup with sauteed carrot and onions, pasta and chicken (coq au vin?) -- all was good, the soup was tasty, the pasta was al dente, the chicken was tender. We also had muenster cheese, bread and mango sorbet with hazelnut meringue and creme fraiche. The taste of sorbet and meringue together was wonderful, I liked it a lot. For drink I had a cup of white tea (emperor's himalayan reserve silver tip).

Left: Lentil soup
Right: Pasta and chicken

Left: Bread and muenster cheese
Right: Mango sorbet with hazelnut meringue and creme fraiche

Emperor's himalayan reserve silver tip tea

After lunch, PH started making the components of Revelation, one of them was tomato puff pastry. He said that tomato is fruit, not vegetable. Okay.

Making tomato puff pastry for Revelation

He then made several more recipes before we went for an afternoon break. I didn't go out right away since I had macaron questions for him. When I went out, I was very happy to see the macaron, which was Mogador. Most of them were already gone. I had to take picture first before I finally took one piece for myself. This would be my first taste of PH famous macaron! When I had my first bite, I was speechless. O---M---G!!! It was much better than I could ever imagine, definitely the best macaron I've ever tasted. It had crisp outside shell, moist inside, and not too sweet at all -- just perfect by definition. I don't know how I will be able to enjoy any other macarons after tasting this. For drink, I had the midnight litchi blossom, it was good and a perfect pair with the macaron.

Mogador macaron

The perfect pair: Midnight litchi blossom tea and Mogador macaron

We then continued watching the demonstration, starting with assembly of Ispahan Entremet. What a treat watching the Master put the final touch on his famous creation.

Assembling the Ispahan Entremet

The Master and his famous creation

He mentioned that whenever there is a new product, he always educates the employees regarding the description of the product, what are the components in it, where they come from, how long it will last, as well as which area to store in the shops.

I also wanted to give a credit to Mickaël who was very helpful, he always picked up where PH left off. It seemed that both of them completed each other and worked well together. He knew what PH wanted even before PH asked for it, no wonder he is PH's right-hand man.

Mickaël showed us how to mold the vanilla mascarpone cream for Vanilla Tart. The trick was to use a warmed ring and do it fast. If the ring was too hot the cream would melt, if the ring was too cold the cream would stick.

Mickaël molding the vanilla mascarpone cream for Vanilla Tart

Then after making several more recipes, PH ended today's class by showing us how to mold the marbled raspberry sorbet with litchi and rose sorbet for Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace.

Creating Miss Gla'Gla

We were given time to get ready for Mexican food dinner at Chef Art Smith's home. Before heading out, there was margarita time (pre-dinner drink) at the school. Sébastien and Jacquy (the founders of the school) prepared our margaritas.

Sébastien and Jacquy preparing margaritas

Margaritas and mariachi, can you guess the theme?

Around 6 pm we left for dinner by a private bus and the margarita time continued on the bus. What a fun time! Don't worry, our driver didn't drink at all.

Margarita, and more margarita

Chef Art Smith's home was very nice, most of the walls were covered with beautiful paintings. He is the owner of Table Fifty-Two and was Oprah Winfrey's formal personal chef for 10 years. Before dinner began, both Chefs Art Smith and Pierre Hermé gave short speeches.

Chef Art Smith giving a welcoming speech

Then we all were invited to go to the backyard for the homemade Mexican food: fresh made tortilla, tender grilled steak, guacamole, salsa (both mild and spicy), pork and bean soup, chips -- everything was good.

Homemade Mexican food

Left: Steak tortilla
Right: Pork and bean soup

Tortilla chips, guacamole and spicy salsa

Unfortunately the weather was chilly, so after finished with dinner, some of us decided to go back upstair. There were more stuffs upstair -- desserts and drinks. The cilantro marinated strawberry was very refreshing, flan was very creamy, horchata was very smooth. Sébastien came and told us to try cajeta ice cream (goat milk's caramel ice cream), we followed his suggestion and I'm glad I did, it was sweet and creamy -- so good.

Left: Horchata
Right: Mexican vanilla bean flan, tropical fruit salsa

Left: Cilantro marinated strawberries
Right: Cajeta ice cream

I didn't try both of these, so I couldn't give any comments.

Left: Pina colada sorbet
Right: Adriana's margarita

With very full stomachs, we all went back to the school. On the way Anne said we were welcomed to join for more drinks (I forgot the name of the bar). The bus stopped and several people got off to join Anne, while the rest of us went back to the school. I offered to drop off Patty since her place was close to my hotel, then my husband and I drove back to the hotel.

I brought back 1 macaron for my husband to try, he loved it too. He agreed with me that it was the best macaron we've ever tasted so far. We'll definitely buy a lot of PH's creations when we go to Paris or Japan.

I'll write about my second day of the class on the next post, thanks for reading!

**********

Pierre Hermé Paris
http://www.pierreherme.com

French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com

My first day of Pierre Hermé class in Chicago -- Part 1

2008-05-28T17:14:00.003-04:00

*** Before I start writing anything, I just want to say that Chef Pierre Hermé is one of the nicest and down-to-earth people I've ever met. Even though he is a very well known pastry chef and is very successful in what he does, he is not arrogant at all. I admire him a lot and feel very lucky to be able to meet and learn from him. ***

It has been 1 week since I came home from Chicago, but I haven't got a chance to post my experience until now since I've been very busy with orders as well as trying out some of the recipes from the class. Finally, here's the full story of the class...

So my day began, I finally got up from bed at 6 am that morning, after not being able to sleep the entire night. I guessed even though I was very tired, I was too excited to sleep. Who wouldn't if your dream came true, which in my case was that I would meet and learn from one of the best in my business (food industry, pastry to be specific) -- Chef Pierre Hermé. He is called "the Picasso of Pastry" because of his amazing creations, you can read more about him in his official website or here.

After I was ready in my full chef uniform, we went down to the lobby, but unfortunately we had to wait for more than 10 minutes for our car even though we had called ahead of time. We stopped by at Fox & Obel first before dropping me off at French Pastry School for my class. We passed the school since we didn't see any sign (and our GPS was showing the address off by a block), so I had to walk back one block since the street is a one-way street.

As soon as I entered the building, I was greeted by Lindsay. She was the one who told me that I got the seat in the class and I'd never met her before. She asked me to sign some paperworks, take the name tag and told me to go to the 2nd floor for breakfast as well as to get my chef jacket from the school. Then came Anne who I'd exchanged emails with a lot but had never met either. Both Lindsay and Anne were very friendly. After talking a little bit with them, I headed towards the elevator to go to the 2nd floor.

On the 2nd floor, there were a lot of people since it was almost 8 am. I tried to find my chef jacket that was provided by the school on the rack and I saw my name on one of the hangers. Then I asked a lady if she knew where the restroom was and luckily she did. After changing, I left my bag on the rack and walked towards the U-shaped tables. Then Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, one of the founder of the French Pastry School, greeted me and said that he saw me at Everest the night before. I told him I didn't go to his table since I didn't want to bother them -- apparently he was one of the gentlemen dining with PH. He joked telling me that they were talking about me.

When I reached one of the seats on the table, there was the lady who showed me the restroom. Her name is Patricia, a very nice and sweet lady. After sitting down, I finally saw PH who was sitting in the center of the table. Before I got a chance to say hi to him, everyone was asked to sit down for the breakfast. I thought of having my camera with me at the table but I was not sure if it's polite since no one seemed to have their camera in hand. So, I neither took the picture of PH nor the breakfast (black truffle scrambled egg with shaved black truffle and parmesan on top, bread and ispahan jam) -- which I now regretted. By the way, the egg was very good -- moist and very fragrant, I love black truffle, however I didn't try the bread nor the jam.

Then suddenly I noticed that PH was walking towards our seats, I was so nervous. He greeted everybody and shook our hands. When he was in front of me, he said "bonjour" and gave me a firm hand shake. All I could say was "bonjour", can you believe it? I totally forgot all French words and conversations that I've learnt from Rosetta Stone because I was going to meet him, what a disappointment :-( I guessed so far I only learned to listen and to read from that software without speaking to a real person, or I was just too nervous.

After the breakfast concluded around 9 am, we went to the classroom. Unfortunately I didn't go fast enough so the front seats were already full and I got the seat on the 2nd row. I tried to take the best pictures possible from my seat and I think I got most of it.

Before the class officially started, PH introduced his assistant who has worked with him for 15 years, his name is Mickaël Marsollier -- I think he is PH's right-hand man. Then PH wanted us to introduce ourselves. There were 25 lucky people (that were selected from about 2,000 entries) who came from all over the US and even 1 lady came from Macau only for this class. Some of us were pastry chefs who work for restaurants or their own bakeries (L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Payard, Spago, David Burke, Vanille Patisserie, Petites Bouchees, Lana's Desserts, just to name a few), some were chocolatiers (Patricia's Chocolate, Fran's Chocolates) and some were foodies. Surprisingly, during the break I found out one of the bloggers that her blog I love to read was there too, I was happy to meet her. Her name is Veronica from Veronica's Test Kitchen, she was a very friendly lady. By the way, when I introduced myself I mentioned that I just started my business and the name is Itzy Bitzy Patisserie, everyone was laughing. Later they told me that it is a cute and catchy name, thanks!

PH spoke English during the demonstration, but when he got into technical stuffs he preferred to explain it in French. In that case, Jacquy was there ready to translate it. Luckily in the past several months I've been learning French from Rosetta Stone, as well as reading PH10 and La Pâtisserie de Pierre Hermé, so that I understood a little bit.

In the beginning of the class, PH gave a power point presentation about his concepts for his company -- Un univers de goûts, de sensations et de plaisirs (Universal of taste, sensation and pleasure):
1. Quality: in ingredients, in the way products are made and in the service to customers
2. Creativity: in the way to create the product, starting with an idea on the paper, translating to the product (this is Mickaël's responsibility, but in the end PH is the one who decides and approves it), then finishing with the packaging
3. Attention to detail: PH loves detail, but hates perfection. Detail is something that you can achieve, while perfection is something that you cannot achieve and will make you never be satisfied. He likes to give a "little touch" to surprise the customer
4. Precision information about the product: to the employees (on how to make it), to the customers (on how to consume it) as well as to the company
5. Always constantly trying to do better: what does well and what can be improved

Power point presentation - Satine

He talked about the milestones of the company, if you want to know more about it you can read here or here. In 2007 he opened 4 new shops in Japan (bringing total of 7 shops in Japan). Soon he will open 2 new shops in Paris (1 only for chocolates and 1 only for macarons) and 1 new shop in Dubai. So when is he going to open a shop in the US? That was one of the questions I asked him during dinner at Chef Art Smith's house and his answer was maybe in several years because it's not easy to open a shop in a different country -- he has to learn the culture of that country first. That's smart business 101 -- I know some larger companies that failed internationally because they didn't do their due diligence.

Then he talked about his products that are categorized in to:
1. Classic: tarts, millefeuilles
2. Fetish: created and developed by PH, there are 11 flavors -- Carrément chocolat, Celeste, Mosaic, Plenitude, Satine, Montebello, Mogador, Eden, Sarah, Ispahan, Vanille
3. Creations: new items of the moment -- Emotion, Miss Gla'Gla

Power point presentation - 2008 new products

He said that he always creates new thing that doesn't stick long enough, just like fashion and trend. He wants to create brand that has element that people will recognize. Every months he releases new products part of the Fetish line, except in Christmas time -- there is no time because they are very busy. All of his stores carries the same flavor at the same time but not the same products. For him the product comes first, then the marketing afterwards. He usually does the press release 6 months before the new products come out. He follows the season but he doesn't have the exact time when he will have a new product available.

Then the demonstration began, he would make 11 creations:
1. Black truffle macaron
2. Emotion Depayse
3. Emotion Ispahan
4. Ispahan Entremet
5. Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron
6. Macaron Ispahan
7. Macaron Satine
8. Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace
9. Revelation
10. Tarte Ispahan
11. Vanilla tart

Each of his creations have more than one components. He made most of the components from all the creations on that day (day 1) and would do the assembling and finishing touch on each creation the following day (day 2). I could not wait to taste every single one of them!

The first thing made in his demonstration was sugar candy for Emotion Depayse. This candy is not only used as a decoration. He said that he only puts something on his creations if it will improve either texture or flavor of the product.

Making sugar candy for Emotion Depayse

After this he jumped from one recipe to another, so we had to give him our full attention (like we wouldn't).

When he finished showing us how to make sugar dough and litchi gelée for Tarte Ispahan, we went for the morning break.

Making sugar dough and litchi gelée for Tarte Ispahan

We had Chloé Chocolat (one of his new products that he brought for us to sample) and flowery earl grey tea. The cookies tasted very good, it has a crunch that came from dried raspberry on it.

Chloé Chocolat and Flowery Earl Grey tea

I will continue the story on my next post, happy reading!

**********

Pierre Hermé Paris
http://www.pierreherme.com/

French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com/

(More) Dessert at Tru, Chicago

2008-05-24T16:08:00.002-04:00

From dinner at Everest, we went back to our hotel to drop off our car. Then we walked to Holy Name Cathedral to attend the vigil mass. It was drizzling at that time, we were very late already and as expected we got lost. When we arrived at the church, the homily was just over. I felt bad to be late, but it was better than not going to the mass at all.

After the mass ended, we went straight to Tru. We were thinking to cancel it, but I still tempted to try their dessert. I love Food Network and Chef Gale Gand is one of my favorite people on that channel. That's why I had to go there eventhough we were still very very very full. However, as Chef Gale Gand says "there's always room for dessert" :-)

When we arrived at Tru, we told the host that we just want to have dessert at the lounge. The host was not friendly at all, very disappointing! We noticed that the main dining room was full with people. I guessed most of them were out-of-towners who came for National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show that took place on that weekend.

After more than 10 minutes, our waitress came, she was very nice. We told her that we only wanted to have dessert since we just had dinner. Then she came back with the menu. We also found out that apparently Chef Gale was no longer the pastry chef at Tru, although she was still involved with the restaurant. Eventhough we already knew what we wanted based on the online menu, we still looked at the menu while waiting for our waitress to come back. Then a different person came to take our order: dense chocolate, banana crepes, mignardises & lollipops, black tea and root beer float.

Dessert menu at Tru's lounge

The dense chocolate was good -- moist and chocolate-y, the hazelnut ice cream complimented very well. The banana crepes was okay, nothing special. The root beer float was good, not too strong.

Dense chocolate and Banana crepes

Gale's root beer float

The mignardises & lollipops were cute, they came in 3-tier tray, very nice. In case you are curious, they were coconut macaroon, cappuccino chocolate (it was good, my favorite), mint chocolate, macadamia toffee, margarita opera cake, sour cherry jelly, salted caramel chocolate, passion fruit macaron (eventhough it was small, it was perfect -- my favorite too), orange and cherry lollipops.

Mignardises and lollipops

By the time we finished it was almost 10 pm already, so we asked for the check. Before we left, our waiter gave us 2 pieces of plastic wrapped financier. We didn't try it until we got home (4 days later), it was good -- surprisingly still very moist.

Financiers to take home

From here we walked back to our hotel, we were very full and tired. We took shower then straight to bed since I had to be at French Pastry School by 8 am for my first day of Pierre Hermé class.

**********

Holy Name Cathedral
735 North State Street
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 787-8040
http://www.holynamecathedral.org

Tru
676 N St. Clair Street
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 202-0001
http://www.trurestaurant.com

Dinner at Everest, Chicago

2008-05-24T12:56:00.003-04:00

Even though we were very full already from our daytime food "tasting" (you can read about it in my previous post), we couldn't wait to have dinner at Everest. Because it was Saturday, the traffic was heavy and we were not familiar with the small roads (driving from north Chicago to downtown). We figured out that we'd be about 10-15 minutes late for our 5 pm reservation, so we called to let them know. It was good that we called them, otherwise we wouldn't know where to park our car (the reservation was booked through Opentable.com and we thought we would figure out the parking when we got there). The person from Everest mentioned to go to the private parking on the building and to give our name.

We followed the directions given, arrived on the garage door and gave our name over the microphone. After a few seconds of silence, the garage door opened, so we drove in towards the next door. There was a sign next to the door mentioning to get our car in front of the 'eye'. We couldn't see any 'eye', but as the car inched closer forward, the door suddenly opened. I guessed since Everest is located at Chicago Stock Exchange, the security is tight. We drove towards the valet area, and after leaving our car with the attendant, we went to enter the building. We took the elevator to the lobby, got out to the other side of the lobby, took another elevator that transferred us to the 39th floor. From there we moved again to another elevator that transferred us to the 40th floor where Everest is. We were just waiting for the retina scanner, which thankfully wasn't needed. What a long journey just to have dinner :-)

When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by a host who then led us to our table. After we sat, he asked if we were on a time constraint. We said yes since we had to attend the mass at 7:30 pm, which meant we had to leave at the latest by 7 pm. Then the waiter came and gave us the menu. He said if we wanted to have the 7-course we had to order it now and it would be in hurry considering we only had less than 2 hours. We thought of having the 7-course for the full experience, but we were still full, so we decided to have 4-course dinner instead. Since we'd picked different choices, we would try a total of 6 entrees and 2 desserts, wow that's a lot!

At this time the restaurant was not that full. While waiting for the food to come, we noticed that there was an empty table near the window with a nice view of the city. So we asked if we could move to that table, unfortunately that table was already reserved.

Then came the bread, I asked for the milk bread and my husband asked for the mini french baguette. Both bread was good, however the butter was still very cold, not at room temperature like the one at Charlie Trotter's.

Milk bread and Mini french baguette

After that the amuse bouche arrived, which were spring onion and garlic mousse, pork belly, asparagus soup, broccoli mousse with parmesan cheese. Everything was good -- the spring onion and garlic mousse was smooth, the pork belly was tender, the asparagus soup was creamy, the broccoli mousse was perfect with the crunchy bits of parmesan cheese.

Amuse bouche: spring onion and garlic mousse, pork belly, asparagus soup, broccoli mousse with parmesan cheese

Our first starters came, mine was frog leg soup and my husband's was seared scallop. Both were good, the soup was creamy with enough amount of frog leg meat, the scallop was tender and not overcooked. Would definitely recommend these.

Left: Boneless frog leg soup, watercress and tapioca
Right: Casco bay sea scallop, marinated turnips alsace style and pinot gris

The second starters were roasted lobster (mine) and soft shell crab (my husband's). The lobster was cooked perfectly, the meat was sweet and went well with the wine-butter sauce. The soft shell crab was good, wrapped in phyllo and fried to golden brown, wonderful with the beet sauce. The only complain we had was that the soft shell crab was a little chewy (instead of crunchy) so it was a bit of a struggle to eat.

Left: Roasted maine lobster in alsace gewurztraminer, butter and ginger
Right: Crispy maryland soft shell crab, red beet coulis and melfor

The starters were pretty easy picks, but we needed recommendation for the main course. The waiter asked whether we wanted fish or meat. Since we both preferred fish, he said that we should go with the slow baked yellowtail and dover sole. Luckily we ordered those, they were very good. I liked the yellowtail more -- it was firm and the sauce was very tasty with smoky flavor from the bacon in it. The sole was good, it was buttery sweet and delicate -- my husband liked this more, perfect :-)

Left: Slow baked filet of yellowtail backaofa, alsace style
Right: Filet of dover sole, petite grenobloise, lemon and caper

At this time we saw Chef Jean Joho walking to the dining room, so we asked our waiter if we could talk to him. Within 5 minutes he arrived at our table, and he was very nice and friendly. We complimented the food and the ambiance. He asked if this was our first time, we said yes and that we came from New Jersey. I told him that I would attend Chef Pierre Hermé class -- he knew about the class since he would provide one of the lunches during that event. Then he said that Pierre Hermé just walked in. What?! I looked at the direction he pointed and I saw PH sitting on the table that was empty and we requested to move to, remember I mentioned about it in the beginning of this post? He was with 2 other gentlemen (who turned out to be Chef Mickaël Marsollier -- PH's assistant and Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer from French Pastry School) and a lady. I was so nervous and happy at the same time to see him, my hands were shaking. I had to calm myself down and kept my attention to Chef Joho. My husband asked if it's okay to have picture with him. He told us to enjoy our dinner first and he would be glad to have the picture with us before we leave. Then he left to go to greet PH and his company.

Finally our desserts arrived, I picked fantasy of chocolate that had 5 different items and my husband picked terrine of chocolate crèpe and banana brulée. Both were amazing! The terrine was very creamy and not too sweet. Everything in the fantasy of chocolate was good, but I liked the macadamia chocolate cake the most. Don't take me wrong, I liked the other four too -- marjolaine chocolate cake, chocolate sponge cake, chocolate drop center liquid and chocolate ice cream. Honestly I could not pay full attention to the desserts since I was still too excited.

Left: Fantasy of chocolate
Right: Terrine of chocolate crèpe and banana brulée

Then came the petit fours, we asked to only have one of each and would share them since we were very full already. They were good -- earl grey truffle, licorice cookie, coconut chocolate, pistachio financier, mint chocolate, apricot gelee, rocher.

Assorted petit fours tray - earl grey truffle, licorice, coconut chocolate, pistachio financier, mint chocolate, apricot gelee, rocher

When we finished, it was 7:10 pm already, so we asked for our check. After paying, we were walking out when we saw Chef Joho noticed us and gave a sign to wait a minute. By the way, he was still at PH's table. After we had our picture taken with Chef Joho and said our good bye to him, we left in hurry to go to church. We were very satisfied with both the food and the service. We highly recommend you to go to Everest if you are in Chicago.

Chef Pierre Hermé at Everest

From church, we went to Tru for more dessert since that night was the only time available on our schedule. Read about it on the next post.

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Everest
440 S. LaSalle St., 40th Floor
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 663-8920
http://www.everestrestaurant.com/

A full day of food tasting in Chicago

2008-05-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

Eventhough still very tired, we decided to start early that morning since I've made a list of food places to visit. We left the hotel at 10 am and went to Vanille Patisserie to get our breakfast.

First stop for breakfast: Vanille Patisserie
It was easy to find the place since it has a big brown awning in front of the store. The place was small but cozy and the person behind the counter was very friendly and helpful. We only ordered one croissant, a chocolate dessert called "Sophia", two chocolate truffles and hot tea eventhough there were a lot of tempting items. We would go to more places to eat so we had to save some room.

The croissant was good, buttery and crisp in the outside, but inside didn't have a lot of layer -- we still love the one from Patisserie Claude more but this one was pretty good.

Sophia was very good, I liked it a lot! The chocolate mousse was very chocolate-y with the crunch from the hazelnut crisp. Definitely a must have.

Croissant and Sophia

The two chocolates truffles (caramel and gianduja orange) were okay, not very special.

Caramel chocolate and Gianduja orange chocolate truffles

Before we left, I decided to buy their macarons to go. On that day they had 10 different flavors: chocolate-hazelnut, coffee, chocolate, chocolate-hazelnut, coffee, raspberry, pistachio, orange-ginger, coconut-passion fruit, rose, red velvet, black currant-violet. I asked for one of each with the exception of coffee and chocolate hazelnut -- which I got two of since I had to fill up a box of 12. I didn't get a chance to try them until we arrived at home (4 days later). They were okay -- a little bit dry (maybe because we didn't consume them soon enough) and not enough filling (especially after tasting Pierre Hermé's).

Assorted macarons

Next breakfast / lunch stop: Sweet Thang
The place is bigger than Vanille Patisserie and more open. The person behind the counter was just as friendly, so far Chicago has been pretty hospitable. Since we wouldn't have lunch until later, we odered more item: croissant, quiche lorraine, pear tart, chocomisu (which was chocolate mousse and tiramisu) and another hot tea.

The croissant was disappointing, dry and no taste of butter, but had a lot of layer. In my opinion, the one from Vanille Patisserie was much better in taste.

Croissant

The pear tart was good, the crust and the filling was perfect.
The chocomisu was good too, the chocolate and vanilla mousses were creamy. I could not taste any coffee flavor in it though -- I assumed it would have coffee since it mentioned tiramisu on the description.

Pear tart and Chocomisu

The quiche lorraine came at the end since they needed to reheat it. We had high expections because it was supposedly one of their specialy. It was very disappointing though, the crust was thick and hard, while the filling was very salty (maybe they forgot that the ham is already salty and put too much salt???). We didn't complain though since we were in hurry, so we just didn't finish it.

Quiche lorraine

Lunch #1: Superdawg
From here we went around for a little bit of sight seeing, before going to Superdawg drive-in to try their famous hot dog. The drive-in area was full, no empty spot, so we just parked on the street and ordered in person to the booth. The line was not that bad, we had to wait about 30-45 minutes until we got our order, which was superdawg with everything and vanilla supershakes.

The hotdog was very good, crispy in the outside, firm and moist inside. They used something called 'Chicago relish', which was definitely different that what we're used to. The fries was okay, some still crispy, some a little bit soggy.

The shake was good, very thick and creamy.

Superdawg - with everything and Supershakes - mellow vanilla

Lunch #2: Hot Doug's

From one hot dog place, we go to ... another hot dog place. Our next stop was Hot Doug's to try another famous hot dog. When we arrived there, it was already 3:30 pm (they close at 4:00 pm) but the line was still long. We had to wait 30 minutes until we reached the front. While waiting we chatted with other people on the line, who were very enthusiastic about how good this place was and how much better it was than Superdawg. We also perused their menu which was located on the wall, so we knew what we wanted: duck fat fries, hot dog, corn dog, bacon sausage and orange cream soda. Doug Sohn, the owner and the one who took our order, was quite a character and certainly fit the off the wall atmosphere. It only took about 5 minutes for the order to arrive at our table, so fast!

Their famous duck fat fries was good, very crispy outside and soft inside.
The hot dog was not as good as the one from Superdawg, but still good.
The corn dog was my favorite here, the corn crust was crispy ouside and moist inside.
The bacon sausage was good too, perfect pairing with the toppings (wine-infused grainy dijon mustard, herb-garlic eurocreme and caramelized onions) that came with it.

Clockwise from top: Duck fat fries, Bacon sausage, The dog, The Sally Vega

We left most of the bread and the fries considering we would have our dinner right after this, crazy huh?!

From here we headed towards Everest, then to Tru since I've been wanting to try their dessert for a while now (because of Gale Gand, their executive pastry chef). You can read our experience on both places on my next post, since this post is very long already. Guess who we stumbled upon that night.

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Vanille Patisserie
2229 N Clybourn Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 868-4574
http://www.vanillepatisserie.com/

Sweet Thang
1921 W North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 772-4166
http://www.sweetthangcakes.com/

Superdawg drive-in
6363 N Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 478-7800
http://www.superdawg.com/

Hot Doug's
3324 North California
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 279-9550
http://www.hotdougs.com/

Dinner at Charlie Trotter's, Chicago

2008-05-22T16:30:00.054-04:00

We arrived at Charlie Trotter's almost at 6 pm, almost missing it completely. It was an unassuming building (no sign at all), and we were lucky the (nicely dressed) valet waved at us. Not sure how he knew we were going there, but thank God he got our attention.

We were greeted very nicely, escorted up the stairs to the bar area, which doubled as the waiting area. The hostess showed us our table on the second floor. At that time there were only few people in the room, but within 30 minutes it was full. I was a bit confused when people kept coming at intervals since I thought there were only 2 seatings, 5:30 and 9 pm. Maybe the each seating stretches for an hour?

Charlie Trotter's was listed as one of the '1000 Places to See Before You Die', so we had high expectations for the night. Of course, we also realized it wasn't the '1000 Places to Eat Before You Die' list.

There were only two choices in the menu, the Grand Menu and the Vegetable Menu. When we saw that, we thought of ordering 1 of each tasting menu so that we could taste all of them. However after perusing both the menu and considering that we loved meat/seafood more than vegetable (sorry Mom), we decided that both of us would have the Grand Menu. We don't really drink alcohol, so my husband ordered the Beverage Tasting Menu (which was non-alcoholic) while I ordered ginger ale.

The first bread served was mini french baguette and room temperature butter. The baguette was good, but I still loved the one from Del Posto more.

When we were still enjoying the baguette, my husband's first beverage arrived, which was sparkling orange & lucuma. It was very refreshing.

Then the parade of meals started, the first one was razor clam. I didn't like it since the clam had the fishy taste, but it was tender.

Razor clam with lemon and chervil

The second beverage (ruby red grapefruit & ginger) came, it was very good, I liked this drink the most.

The second meal was trout with cured salmon, it was good. I was always a little bit concerned about raw salmon, but the dish had a very nice texture and taste I couldn't believe it.

Tasmanian ocean trout with citrus cured salmon, louisiana crayfish and watercress

Then another bread was offered and it was cinnamon whole grain. It was pretty good and soft, but nothing special.

The next beverage was black tea and kombucha. I was expecting 'hot tea', but it turns out to be chilled black tea with vinegar. It was very interesting, but the vinegar was too strong so it felt like we were drinking straight vinegar.

The third meal served was quail, the meat was tender and very tasty, I loved it a lot and was my favorite. My husband who is not a quail eater liked this too, but he couldn't finish it and gave the rest to me -- good, more for me. We were a little shocked to see that they had served the whole quail feet (claws and all), but it certainly made the dish unique in presentation.

Four story hill farm quail with chorizo, spring onions and clover

Then the next beverage was dried cherry & wild rice, it was very thick and very sweet, both of us didn't like it.

The next meal served was lobster, I liked this too, the lobster meat was sweet and soft. It was perfect with the veal liver that came with it.

Maine day boat lobster with elephant garlic and grilled eagle rock oyster

At this time we noticed that the table next to us had a nice looking bread so we asked one of the waiter if we could get the same bread. Then they obliged, and we had maple bacon bread. It was very good -- soft bread with sweet and savory taste at the same time. Luckily we asked for it, otherwise we'd missed out on this really nice bread. If I was not saving room for dessert, I would have ask for more of this.

Maple bacon bread

The last meal served was venison loin, it was cooked medium rare and was tender. I only ate a little bit of it since I started to feel full, so I asked my husband to finish mine since he liked it.

Millbrook farm venison loin with toasted buckwheat, cumin and sheetp's milk ricotta

Finally the dessert started to arrive -- or as I call them 'my main entree'. When we gave our menu order, we asked our waitress if it was possible to have desserts from both menu, luckily she allowed us to have that. The first dessert from the grand menu was nigorizake sorbet and the other was jasmine granite from the vegetarian menu. On the sorbet, the sake taste was very strong. While the jasmine granite was very mellow -- I like this better.

Left: Nigorizake sorbet with asian pear and jasmine rice.
Right: Jasmine granite with water chestnuts and tahitian vanilla

The the next beverage (sultana & white balsamic) came, it was sweet and sour at the same time. We were a bit confused since the beverage was supposed to be a tea at this point based on the menu. So my husband called our waitress and asked about it. I guessed she forgot to bring the fifth beverage which was darjeeling & lavender. Within couple of minutes the tea came, it was a good one, especially to have it with the dessert.

The second dessert from grand menu was stewed rhubarb and from the vegetarian menu was sweet potato. I loved the stewed rhubarb a lot, it was very refreshing. While the sweet potato, it was good but I could not really taste the sweet potato.

Left: Stewed rhubarb with white chocolate yogurt and coriander shortbread
Right: Okinawan sweet potato with sweet stout and vanilla bean marshmallow

The last dessert from grand menu was chocolate custard and from the vegetarian menu was Indonesian chocolate. The chocolate custard was good, but you have remember to eat a little bit of everything on the plate at the same time -- it was a deconstructed dessert. The Indonesian chocolate was good too and I could smell a little bit of the pandan on the broth.

Left: Venezuelan chocolate custard with kaffir lime, grilled cactus and agavero jelly
Right: Indonesian chocolate with pine nut and pandan broth

When the second and last desserts came out, the waitress also brought the petit fours. Our table was full with lots of dessert plates, what a nice picture! The petit fours were: dulce de leche chocolate, passion fruit chocolate, asahi jelly, and pineapple tart. Both the chocolates were good, the jelly was too sweet for me, while the pineapple tart was refreshing.

Assorted petit fours

The Beverage Tasting Menu

We were very full by this time, so we asked for our check. When the check came, we realized that this was the most expensive dinner we have ever had so far. Overall, we were glad that we came here, but neither the food nor the service blew us away.

After paying, we waited for our car from the valet. Then after the car arrived, the parking attendant gave us a box of chocolate cookies. I was very surprised, what a complete service. We didn't eat the cookies until we arrived home, it was good -- chocolate-y.

Some tips I would like to give:
* They are very accomodating with your request, so if you (dis)like certain things on the menu, let them know.
* Be very specific about what you want or don't want, our waitress somehow decided that we wouldn't like the alcohol on the dessert (nigorizake sorbet) because we didn't drink alcohol. It was resolved after a little explanation, but it would've been so much nicer if she had confirmed with us.
* If you have enough time (and you plan 2 months in advance), ask to be seated at the Kitchen Table. The Kitchen Table Menu is 18 courses (5 of which is dessert) and you get to sit in the kitchen, also the price is only slightly more expensive (about $45 based on the information from our waitress) but you get more courses.
* Enjoy your 'experience', you're paying for it :-)

When we arrived at the hotel, we had another surprise in our room. They had an amazing turn down service that prepared our beds for the night, and they left a couple of nice chocolates on the table. That was a very nice touch and I would definitely consider Park Hyatt again for our next trip.

Caramel chocolates at the hotel

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Charlie Trotter's
816 West Armitage
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 248-6228
http://www.charlietrotters.com

My trip to Chicago to attend Pierre Hermé class

2008-05-22T16:03:00.027-04:00

The journey started on Friday, May 16, 2008. My husband and I woke up at 3:30 am that morning since we planned to leave the house by 4 am. We had to leave very early since we already made a dinner reservation at Charlie Trotter's at 5:30 pm on that same day. We figured out that it would take us 13 hours to drive to Chicago from New Jersey. However, eventhough I'd finished packing the night before, we didn't leave the house until almost 5 am. Thankfully Chicago is 1 hour behind, so we'd gain 1 hour when we arrive there.

The car ride was very smooth, no problem at all, but the weather was a different story. It was raining continuously since we left the house until when we were in Ohio, which means about 7 hours. My husband drove most of the time, I drove only 2 hours after the rain stopped.

We didn't have a proper meal along the way, only a late breakfast from McDonald's since it was next to the gas station where we filled up the car and some chips or cookies in between (not healthy). We didn't want to waste any time since we were on a tight schedule.

McDonald's and Cinnabon, the breakfast of champions

We finally arrived around 4:30 pm in Chicago (local time, I'd set the clock back 1 hour). The traffic was heavy on I-90 towards downtown (just realized it was rush hour), so we decided to take the local road to go to our hotel (Park Hyatt Chicago). I must say that Garmin Nuvi GPS is worth every penny! We wanted to check in first and change our clothes before going out for dinner. We got into our room at 5:15 pm, so we called the restaurant to let them know that we'd be late, luckily they understood. The restaurant said their only concern was that we wouldn't be able to "experience the whole thing" -- we were not sure what it meant but we let it went by.

With the proper attire, we headed up to Charlie Trotter's. Read our Charlie Trotter's experience on my next post.

After the Charlie Trotter 'experience', we went back to our hotel and went straight to bed since we were very tired.

**********

Park Hyatt Chicago
800 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 335-1234
http://www.parkchicago.hyatt.com/

Lunch at Tawa

2008-05-21T23:17:00.006-04:00

We arrived safely at home around 2 o'clock this morning from an amazing short trip to Chicago. We were very tired, so we took shower and went straight for a very nice long sleep at our own bed. I love to travel, but it's nice to be home.

When we finally woke up, we felt very hungry but didn't have anything at home to eat, so we decided to go to Tawa to try their lunch buffet. We like their food but have never tried their lunch, we usually had dinner there or ordered take-out. When we arrived there were a lot of people already, but luckily there were still several tables available.

After we got our table, I went to the buffet table first while my husband waited since we didn't want to leave our stuff unattended. There were a lot of choices and I took a little bit of almost everything for us to share. The food was delicious, our favorite of the day was the lamb szechwan, it was very tender and very spicy. That's why my husband took some more when it was his turn to go. He also took the dessert that they offered on that day which was seviya kheer. It looked like vermicelli with very sweet almond milk soup, we could also taste the cardamom (?) in it, we didn't like it.

Lunch buffet

Up until this day our favorite dish from here is still the papdi chat, it has almost all the taste I like -- crunch, sweet, sour, spicy. We often ordered take-out only for this, so yummy! We also like their chicken biryani, it's very tasty and the meat was tender.

Papdi chat and Dum pukht bhandar (Chicken biryani)

**********

Tawa
1357 Stelton Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
(732) 985-2414
http://www.tawacafe.com/

I finally met and learned from Chef Pierre Hermé !

2008-05-21T21:05:00.000-04:00

It was an amazing and unique experience to meet and learn from the master pastry chef Pierre Hermé for two whole days.

Turns out that this was only the second time that Chef Hermé had taught a class (the first one was at École Ferrandi in Paris). I'm still trying to get back to earth from cloud nine, it was like a dream -- a very good one!

I will write more about my experience soon. For now, here are some pictures that I've taken (from several hundreds) during the class. I will upload more to my flickr after I have had a chance to sift through them properly.

Chef Pierre Hermé at the beginning and end of day 1

Chef Pierre Hermé and me

Putting the final touches on Ispahan

The end of class on day 2

The amazing results of the 2-day class
Top row: Ispahan Entremet, Emotion Ispahan, Tarte Ispahan.
Middle row: Vanilla tart, Revelation, Miss Gla'Gla Ispahan Glace.
Bottom row: Emotion Depayse, Macaron Ispahan, Mogador, Macaron Satine, Black Truffle Macaron, Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron, Macaron Satine (flipped up).

Actually there was another dessert created during the class (a surprise gift from him), but since it's not available yet at his stores, I have decided to wait until he makes the official announcement about this product. All I can say is that it was amazing and I feel very lucky to be among the first few who tasted it.

Cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company and Puffs from Beard Papa's

2008-05-15T18:04:00.013-04:00

Our good friends RB just came back from their Hawaii vacation and gave us these wonderful cookies. Their flavors were Kona coffee, chocolate dip macadamia nut, pineapple macadamia nut. I like these pineapple shaped shortbread cookies a lot, they were crisp and tender at the same time, so yummy!

Hawaii shortbread cookies: Kona coffee, chocolate dip macadamia nut, pineapple macadamia nut

When I checked their website, I saw that they also offer more other flavors. I have my eyes on the chocolate ones, I guess I have to wait until the weather is a little bit cooler to prevent them from melting.

RB also sent us this wouth-watering picture below. In addition to the ones on the photo, they also tried the breakfast style savory puffs filled with egg, cheese with bacon or sausage. They said that the savory puffs from Beard Papa's were good. In case you are curious, my friends took the picture at the Waikiki Beach Beard Papa's location. I wish the stores in NY will have these too soon.

Savory puffs: egg salad, chicken salad, imitation crab salad, tuna salad

I love Beard Papa's cream puffs, they were excellent and had a unique combination of crunchy crust and spongy texture inside. As mentioned on their website, the texture was created from their patented two-layer pastry recipe, a pie-crust inspired outer shell and a French choux pastry inner shell.

I think we had tried all flavors that are listed on their website: vanilla, chocolate, green tea, coffee, earl grey tea, pumpkin, strawberry, eclair and mont blanc. We even tried the ones that are not listed: cookie crunch vanilla and sesame. I love them all, but my favorite one is mont blanc. It was divine, a perfect taste combination between the smoothness of their original vanilla custard and the creaminess of French chestnut cream.

Vanilla cream puff

Vanilla, Chocolate, Green tea, Coffee cream puffs

Earl grey tea, Pumpkin, Strawberry cream puffs and Eclair

Mont blanc, Cookie crunch vanilla cream puff and Sesame cream puff

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Honolulu Cookie Company
http://www.honolulucookie.com/

Beard Papa's
http://www.muginohousa.com/

Lunch at Singapore

2008-05-14T11:39:00.010-04:00

Last Sunday we had lunch with R and B at Singapore after spending several hours at their house for some embroidery work. I asked B to help me embroider my new chef jackets that I just bought for the Pierre Hermé class. When we arrived there, the restaurant was quite empty, only 2 other tables were occupied. We were a little bit in a hurry since my husband had a conference call later that day, so we were glad that they were not busy.

After looking at the menu we decided to order shrimp and crabmeat spring rolls, crispy duck salad, Malaysian hot and spicy shrimp, spinach with shitake and garlic, fresh mango with chicken, mee goreng, banana leaf grilled fish. Wow, that's a lot of food! I knew even before the food arrived that we would take some home for our lunch tomorrow. Actually we were thinking to have Singapore chili dungeness crab too, fortunately they didn't have it on that day, phew, one less entree to take home :-)

The shrimp and crabmeat spring rolls was very good, crunchy and lots of filling, highly recommended. However the crispy duck salad was not as good as we hoped for, the duck was not crispy at all. For an awesome crispy duck salad that has never failed as of today, we have to go to Thai Kitchen in Bridgewater, they call it house special duck though, so yummy! Thai Kitchen have 3 locations but we usually go to the one in Bridgewater, so we don't know how the taste at the other locations.

Shrimp & crabmeat spring rolls and Crispy duck salad

Back to our today's lunch, the Malaysian hot and spicy shrimp was good, it tasted literally as name says. Spinach with shitake and garlic was okay, not my favorite since I don't really like any vegetables. The fresh mango with chicken was too sweet for me since I was hoping to taste a little bit of sourness in it, the mango slices added some crunch to it.

Malaysian hot & spicy shrimp and Spinach with shitake & garlic

Fresh mango with chicken

The last two entrees were delicious, I liked the mee goreng a lot. The noodle has some bite to it, the dried squid sauce was so tasty and not overpowering. The banana leaf grilled fish was so tender, the sambal was spicy and complimented the fish well.

Mee goreng and Banana leaf grilled fish (red snapper)

As predicted, both R and B and us took home the leftover entrees which was still a lot, we only managed to finish the appetizer/salad since we already had our eyes on the desserts which were fried banana and peanut pancake. Fried banana was good, crunchy and I could taste the sweetness of the banana, but I didn't like the syrup on the bottom, I prefer they had used honey instead. The peanut pancake was pretty good, crispy but the filling was not sweet enough, I still like the one from Penang more.

Fried banana and Peanut pancake

Overall the food was good, unfortunately the service was only okay, we had to wait for about 30 minutes before the first food came out. They were not busy, but I suspect they only had a few staff to run the kitchen since it was a family business -- and we ordered a lot.

**********

Singapore
182 Orlando Drive
Raritan, NJ 08869
(908) 685-3088
http://singaporenj.com/

Thai Kitchen
1351 Prince Rodger Ave
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
(908) 231-8822
http://www.thaikitchennj.com/

Penang Malaysian Cuisine
505 Old Post Road
Edison, NJ 08817
(732) 287-3038
http://www.penangcuisine.com/

Lunch at Rickshaw Dumpling Bar and Dessert from L'Arte del Gelato

2008-05-12T12:56:00.011-04:00

Last Saturday, my husband and I decided to have lunch in Manhattan and we chose to go to Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. We like dumplings and I definitely love chocolate, that's why I wanted to try their chocolate shanghai soup dumplings.

We entered, surveyed the interior (trying to get our bearings) and went straight to the counter to place our orders. The lady behind the counter was very friendly and told us what the favorite items were when we asked. After looking again at the menu, we knew what we wanted and they were: Chicken and Thai basil, Classic pork and Chinese chive, Peking duck, Peanut sate soup, Shiitake mushroom soup, Chocolate shanghai soup dumplings, Green tea milkshake and Iced green tea with mint.

After placing the orders we noticed that the place was quite empty, so we could get a table right away. While waiting for our orders to arrived, I looked over the open kitchen where they prepared the dumplings. I saw several giant, I mean giant, steamers.

Our orders arrived pretty fast, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into that warm dumplings. All the dumplings were very juicy, so yummy! I liked all of them, but my favorite was the Peking duck which was fried, my husband's favorite was the Classic pork which was steamed.

Chicken & Thai basil dumplings and Classic pork & Chinese chive dumplings

Our four boxes of dumplings

Peking duck - pan fried dumplings and Chocolate Shanghai soup dumplings

The soups were okay, not my favorite, but my husband liked them, especially to have them with the dumplings. As the menu suggested, the Peanut sate soup went well with Chicken and thai basil, while the Shiitake mushroom soup went well with Peking duck. It was not necessary to eat the dumpling together with the soup, I enjoyed the dumpling by itself.

Peanute sate soup and Shiitake mushroom soup

The Chocolate shanghai soup dumplings was okay, there was enough melted chocolate oozing but unfortunately the mochi was too chewy. So when you bite into it you essentially risk squirting yourself with hot melted chocolate. The green tea milkshake was not thick at all, too watery in my opinion.

Hot melted chocolate oozing out of the Chocolate Shanghai soup dumplings and Green tea milkshake next to Iced green tea with mint

With full stomachs we drove to L'Arte Del Gelato, our favorite gelato place in the city. I got the large one to share -- pistachio, caramel and hazelnut gelati, and they gave me a sample of coffee gelato on top. As we expected, the gelato was still perfect!

L'Arte Del Gelato for the road: pistachio, caramel and hazelnut

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Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
53 East 8th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 461-1750
http://rickshawdumplings.com/

L'Arte del Gelato
75 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10014
(212) 924-0803
http://www.lartedelgelato.com/

Dinner at August

2008-05-09T19:02:00.007-04:00

With a very high sugar rush from the workshops at French Culinary Institute, I met my husband to have dinner together with S and L. It has been several months since we last hung out, so we were happy to see them again. Since they didn't have any preferance, my husband and I told them that we'd like to check out The Spotted Pig. Unfortunately when we arrived there, they told us that the waiting time was 2 hours, can you believe it??? Of course we didn't want to wait for that long and decided to walk around the neighborhood to see other restaurants. Finally we walked in front of August and I remembered that I read good reviews about it, so we decided to get in.

The place was already half full, most of the guests sat in the indoor backyard, so the front was quite empty. After perusing the menu, we decided on what we wanted. As an appetizer, we'd share today's special the stuffed artichoke, it was pretty good. My husband's only complain was there wasn't enough of the 'edible' heart.

I ordered tarte flambe which was excellent -- crispy, sweet and very tasty, definitely everyone's favorite. L ordered the grilled trout with roe vinaigrette, which was okay, a little bit bland for my taste. Both S and my husband ordered the charred minute steak with julienned salad which was good, the steak was tender and cooked perfectly.

Stuffed artichoke special and Tarte flambe

Grilled trout with roe vinaigrette and Charred minute steak with julienne salad

Finally for the dessert, we ordered Baba au rhum with tropical fruits, while they ordered Pastel de cuatro leches with dates. Baba au rhum was good, the cake was very moist and the soup was refreshing. Pastel de cuatro leches was delicious, the cake was tender and not too sweet, I could also taste the coconut in it.

Baba au rhum and Pastel de cuatro leches with dates

Finally after a little bit more than 2 hours, we wrapped up dinner and long catching up session. Overall we were very satisfied with the food, the service, as well as the ambience.

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August
359 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 929-8727
http://www.augustny.com/

The Spotted Pig
314 W 11th St
New York, NY 10014
(212) 620-0393
http://www.thespottedpig.com/

Workshops at French Culinary Institute

2008-05-09T17:44:00.011-04:00

After having breakfast at Petrossian Cafe, my husband dropped me off at French Culinary Institute to attend some of the workshops organized by PastryScoop. I registered for 2 workshops which were the modern french dessert with Chef Dominique Ansel from Daniel and contemporary petits fours with Chef Joe Murphy from BLT Market.

Chef Dominique showed us how to make 2 different desserts, he was a very friendly person. The first one was roasted sesame bavarois with a tasting mango. It was excellent, a very nice combination of sesame and mango.

Roasted sesame bavarois with a tasting of mango

The second one was honey mousse with vanilla rhubarb compote and sheeps milk yogurt-bergamot sorbet. It was light, the sorbet was refreshing.

Honey mousse with vanilla rhubarb compote, sheeps milk yogurt bergamot sorbet

Chef Joe came a little bit late since he was stuck in the traffic. A lot of us already went to different workshops but some of us decided to go back to watch his demonstrations when he finally arrived. He showed us how to make several kinds of petits fours. The first one was blueberry pate a fruit, it was too sweet for me.

Then he showed us how to make sesame yuzu macarons, it was okay, the cookies were moist and the filling was sweet and citrusy.

Blueberry pate a fruit and Sesame yuzu macarons

Next was s'mores petit four, which was surprisingly good -- the cake was moist and the marshmallow was perfect.

Finally was strawberry tart with lemon thyme, the tart was buttery and the filling was creamy.

S'mores petit four & Rose champagne marshmallow and Strawberry tart with lemon thyme

I enjoyed both of the workshops, I learned different things from these 2 wonderful chefs. From Chef Dominique I learned how to make desserts that tasted as good as they look, but as you can see they have a lot of components for each dessert. From Chef Joe I learned how to create different desserts using the same components. For example he said we could make yuzu tart using the tart dough from strawberry tart and yuzu curd from the macaron filling.

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French Culinary Institute
462 Broadway
New York, NY 10013-2618
(888) FCI-CHEF
(212) 219-8890
http://www.frenchculinary.com/

PastryScoop
http://www.pastryscoop.com/

Daniel
60 E 65th St
New York, NY 10065
(212) 288-0033
http://www.danielnyc.com/

BLT Market
1430 6th Ave
New York, NY 10019
(212) 521-6125
http://www.bltmarket.com/

Breakfast at Petrossian Cafe

2008-05-09T17:00:00.012-04:00

Last Sunday, my husband and I went to have breakfast at Petrossian Cafe since I would attend several workshops at French Culinary Institute later that day. We heard that their croissant was very good, so we wanted to try and compare it to the one from Patisserie Claude which we love.

When we arrived at the cafe, there were only several small tables available but no empty one, so we had to wait for about 15 minutes. While waiting for our table, we got a chance to browse their display cases. There were lots of desserts, pastries, breads, smoked salmon, foie gras, caviar, chocolates. I decided to get some chocolates to take home, they were very good, so creamy.

Display cases of chocolate and caviar

After we were seated, we perused the menu and decided to have borscht, pain au chocolat and the French breakfast which includes croissant, pain raisin, french baguette, jam, butter, orange juice, tea. The borscht was delicious, the pain au chocolat was good. The croissant was wonderful but we still prefer Patisserie Claude's croissant since it's more buttery. The pain raisin was okay, definitely better than any other pain raisins that I've ever had. The baguette was good, perfect with the soft butter and strawberry jam.

Warm borscht and Pain au chocolat

French breakfast

We were quite full, but I knew that I wanted to order one of their desserts. I didn't know what I wanted so I asked my husband to go to see their display case and pick one for us to share. When he came back he told me that he chose gianduja decadence which was a hazelnut chocolate cake. It was amazing, very chocolate-y and creamy, I love chocolate and hazelnut. I was very content after having this cake, what a sweet thing to start the day.

Gianduja decadence

Box of chocolates and Hazelnut hot chocolate

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Petrossian Cafe
911 Seventh Ave
New York, NY 10019
(212) 245-2217
http://www.petrossian.com/boutique.html

My journey to meet Pierre Hermé in person

2008-05-08T23:48:00.023-04:00

I’m very excited and I cannot wait, I will meet Chef Pierre Hermé in 10 days!!! I will be able to try his amazing work of arts for the very first time, and watch the master at work. So far I could only see them on his books or in the MegaHouse miniature replicas (which I collect).

PH books and MegaHouse Pierre Hermé Paris Collection

Anyway, this journey all started around October 2007 when I got an email from French Pastry School regarding the special class that will be taught by Chef Hermé himself. Right away I went to their website trying to register for that class. Unfortunately I could not register for this class directly since the registration was handled differently. I had to email the school if I was interested to get additional information – which I did right away and got an immediate answer the following day.

Here is some of what was in the email “The class with Pierre Hermé will be handled a bit differently. If you are interested in registering, please let me know and I will add your name to the list. More details about the class will follow soon (like the cost). Later this year, we will select participants using a lottery. We'll let you know the outcome of the lottery via email.” As you might already guess, I emailed them back asking to put my name on the interested list. Since the cost was unknown, my husband and I decided to have a budget for this class of up to $1,000, considering I couldn’t fly to Paris at this time because of our family matter.

I did not hear anything until the end of January, so I decided to email the school again to check if there was any update regarding the lottery result that was supposed to happen at the end of December 2007. I got the answer saying that they postponed the lottery until the end of February 2008 since they needed to finalize the detail for this class. Great, I had to wait a couple more months.

I checked their website for the Pierre Hermé class almost everyday to see if they had new information for that class. Indeed they had, there’s the cost for the class as well as the schedule for that 2 days. Since the cost is more than double my original budget, I had to talk it out with my husband whether it would be worth it to attend the class. This class will only be demonstrations, not hands-on experiences. He is always very supported of me and knows that this class means a lot to me, so he urged me to attend the class if I was selected.

Finally on March 3, 2008 I got an email from them, saying “Thank you for your interest in the Pierre Hermé class this coming May. As you know a lottery has taken place for this exceptional class. Unfortunately, you have not been selected through the lottery to attend the class.” I was very disappointed but I did not give up. I decided to email them asking to still put my name on the interested list and to let me know in the event they decided to have more seats available or if somebody has a cancellation/withdrawn interest. In addition to that, I kept praying to God everyday and visualizing myself attending this class in Chicago (if you know ‘the Secret’ you’ll know what I mean).

After that, I was busy with several pastry orders and attending the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show. Meeting Chef Thomas Keller was a good consolation, but I really wanted to meet Chef Pierre Hermé.

Guess what, on March 14, 2008 I received a phone call from the school asking if I was still interested in attending the class. Apparently a spot had opened up – maybe my request to be on the waiting list made a difference, maybe the prayers, maybe the Secret. I was speechless!!! (This happens rarely since I’m a very talkative person). As soon as I came back to the reality (still on the phone), I registered and paid for it to guarantee my seat for that class. As soon as I hung up the phone, I called my husband, screaming and laughing over the phone. I did not need to tell him anything – he knew right away. For the rest of the day I kept smiling and thanking God for this wonderful opportunity.

Thank you for reading this very long post and sharing my excitement. I will definitely post again about the class after I come back from Chicago. Have a good night!

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French Pastry School
226 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 726-2419
http://www.frenchpastryschool.com/