The French Culinary Institute of New York

**carafe of sparkling water** 

I've walked by the doors of the L'Ecole the restaurant run by the students of the  French Culinary Institute too many times to count. Every time I'm in NYC, I make a habit of going to SOHO and as a result I pass by this school usually on my way to chinatown to grab some much needed food to refuel for more shopping. This past Saturday the weather was cold, rainy, windy and all around terrible. I ended up outside the doors of L'Ecole in dire need of some warmth and food.


They offer prixe-fix meals throughout the day. Brunch and dinner on the weekends and lunch and dinner during the work week. For $19.50 we decided that it was an affordable escape from the wintry weather. The menu offered a little for everyone. Clearly French bistro inspired there were a few non traditional french items but we stuck with the classics. Here's a tip for people who like sparkling but hate to pay the premium. The school offers flat or sparkling filtered water as part of the prixe-fix price. So feel free to order the sparkling. (I ordered it without knowing it was complimentary and my brunch companion who is notorious for being extremely budget conscious almost vetoed my request for sparkling before our waitress informed us that it was complimentary)

 **my burger**

I ordered the seasonal salad hoping for heaps of cauliflower and butternut squash. Instead it was a bed of frisee with a bit of baby arugula some walnuts and a sprinkling of squash and two florets of cauliflower. I am not a big fan of frisee. I don't mind bitter greens but I find frisee to be a bit dry and hard to handle. The curly leaves spring out from my fork in all directions and I find it's always a struggle to get it into my mouth neatly. The salad was a bit disappointing however my brunch companions liked their choices. The terrine was yummny and the butternut squash soup was rich, creamy and comforting. 

**duck confit**

 

I was happy when we moved past the first course and were presented with our entrees. I ordered the burger medium well and it arrived on a brioche bun. Yay! i love brioche buns for burgers. I hate when the buns overpower the patty and with the delicate nature of brioche that's hard to do.  The fries were a bit over salted but well prepared. My other brunch companion got the duck confit and that looked well executed - crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. Brunch at L'Ecole was definitely the right move and at $19.50 a very affordable option.

Wicked Mama's

IMG_0179, originally uploaded by ptran215.

What's the next best thing to winning the Wicked Lottery? Mozzarepas! Don't know what a Mozzarepa is you say? Have you ever been to a street fair in NYC where they sell corn griddle cakes with cheese oozing out the middle? that's a mozzarepa.

I'm a big fan of corn and also a big fan of mozzarella cheese and when you put them together... it's good times all around. To be fair, the arepas that you can get from the street fairs all over NYC really do not compare to the golden crispy griddle cakes that Mama's serves.

Mama's is a Brazilian empanada place. They had all sorts of different empandas. Some were made from a wheat flour dough and there were a few made from cornmeal. We ordered both and had anticipated that the corn meal empanadas would taste better however the consistency of the cornmeal shell was off putting. It was just too thick and hard and tasted more like cardboard than corn. The flour shell was thinner and flakier.

IMG_0187, originally uploaded by ptran215.

We found Mama's purely by luck. Having just won the Wicked Lottery, we didn't want to wander too far from the theater and decided to try to find lunch on 9th Ave. Mama's caught our eye right away, it was cute and it looked clean, fast and affordable. Our goal, other than convenience, was to get as far away from the chain eateries that littered every corner near Times Square. I mean really! why would anyone choose to go to Red Lobster or Applebees when there are good joints like Mama's just a block or two away?

IMG_0189, originally uploaded by ptran215.

The W and NYC

In spite of the miserable weather predicted for the first weekend in May, 4 of my girl friends including miss HaTt decided to spend the weekend in NYC. We booked a room at the W and partied it up in the city.

Three of us started our weekend early and jumped on the chinatown bus on Friday morning. Since it is damn near impossible to find a good shanghai dumpling in Philly, our first stop was Joe's Ginger. It's the sister restaurant to Joe Shanghai and they pretty much serve the same menu with less of the hustle and bustle of Joe Shanghai. The dumplings came quickly as we were their first customers of the day. Two steamers full of dumplings and one order of scallion pancakes had the 3 of us more than satiated. The dumplings were presented on a layer of napa cabbage that become wonderfully sweet and soft when steamed under the dumplings. We ordered the crab and pork version. Joes Ginger offers some of the best soup dumplings in NYC.

After our quick lunch, the three of us walked to Bowery and jumped into a cab uptown to check in at the W. After all, lugging around an overnight bag tends to hamper ones shopping ability. After settling in at the W, we quickly ventured out again with umbrellas in tow. So far we were lucky. The predicted rain was nothing more than a few drops here and there and we decided to walk over to 5th Ave to check out some shops.

With all of our wallets collectively a little lighter we hoofed it back to the W to meet up with the last of our group and decided that it was time for meal #2. The weather had made a turn for the worst and this severely limited our food options. But being as we were in NYC Union Square....this just meant that instead of the thousands of restaurants in NYC we were limited to the few hundred within a 4 block radius. It really was nothing to complain about. We headed to Republic. A tried and true favorite of mine. I first came to this hip Asian fusion spot years and years ago. I think I was just 16 years old visiting a friend of my sister's who had just started at NYU. Republic was considered fancy dining to me back then. Now it's considered a "cheap" alternative to the high end restaurants. Funny how time changes everything.

Within my group of friends, only one was a newbie to this place and after our meal that consisted of beef sate, watercress salad, grilled eggplant and seafood pad thai .... we had a new convert. She too raved about the place. Of course, we washed it all down with some drinkie drinks which most likely colored her opinion. We were conservative and just got one pitcher of the sake sangria. Just a warning...the fruit in this sangria were more like pure shots of alcohol rather than refreshing treats but it still hit the spot.

After the light dinner at Republic we all went back to the W to prepare ourselves for late night shenanigans.

The reason for the light meal was that we had decided that we were all in dire need of some BonChon in our lives. And if you know miss HatT, then you know that she NEVER passes up fried chicken and will sell her soul to the devil for *Korean* fried chicken.

The meal at the hidden BonChon on 31st and 5th started out a little rocky. We were not proactive enough with our meal plans to make reservations ahead of time and were told upon arrival that our wait would be 45 minutes. Then our group grew from 5 to 7 and we were told that the wait for a 7 person table would be closer to an hr or more. Since we were all already at the restaurant (aside from the last minute addition of the 2 extra guests) we stuck around to wait for our table. This proved to be both the best and worst decision of the night.



I say the "best" because there were boys as far as the eye could see. I guess the combo of fried chicken and beer appeals more to the menfolk. As a single gal living in Philadelphia, I have to admit that the dating pool of eligible men seems to shrink with every passing year. Being Asian and having a penchance to date Asian men further minimizes the number of potential mates and the bar/club like scene at the hidden BonChon in NYC was quite a site for sore eyes. It was like *finally* a room full of guys that I don't know from grade/high school or who isn't somehow distantly related to me or *gasp* someone I already dated. My favorite character of the night was Ben Kim aka the best bartender in k-town. Thanks again for all the soju shots. And unfortunately I say the "worst" because the wait did indeed take forever and more than the 1hr that we were originally told. I don't think we got a table until after midnight and by that time after a few rounds with my favorite bartender my recollection of our actual dinner is a bit fuzzy. But nonetheless it was good times had by all :)



SATURDAY



Weeks, days and (to be honest) minutes before the trip I had been checking the weather somewhat excessively hoping that the dour forecast would miraculously change. Unfortunately the predictions of rain and precipitation were still coming hard and fast and Saturday was suppose to be a day of clouds and showers. However we lucked out. Spring time weather still seems to confound the most accurate weather forecasters and after a brief shower in the early morning hours the day pretty much cleared up.

I was lucky enough to win the lottery for some awesome front row Wicked seats with my best friend and I left the rest of the girls to their own devices. I heard after returning to them to get ready for dinner that they spent a lazy afternoon shopping and walking around Soho and the Union Square area. A meal was had at Gramercy Cafe that the girls all enjoyed and fro-yo was purchased at Flurt on 3rd Ave.

Dinner however was to be an all-out-affair with 10 of us in the private tatami room at Typhoon Lounge. We had reservations for 8:30PM at this well known St. Marks Japanese tapas destination. The waitress seemed a little surprised at the amount of food and drink that was ordered and kept wanting us to stop adding items to the list. However our one friend persisted and got everything that he wanted. The list of dishes that we ordered included sushi rolls, grilled egg plant, fried squid legs, cubed sirloin with ramen and vegetables, octopus balls, grilled mushrooms, grilled whole squid, beef curry over rice, and some other dishes that I can't even remember. The list of drinks included a pitcher of some sort of fruit juice soju concoction, a large carafe of some awful sake and a pitcher of Kirin. Suffice it to say that we were well fed and well boozed by the end of dinner. To top it all off, we then decided that we *must* try the bread pudding with the bacon creme anglaise from the famous "dessert truck". (OK only a *few* of us more adventurous eaters tried that dessert)

Having indulged more than expected we decided to call it an early night and walked off dinner as we headed back to the W for the night.



SUNDAY

The last day proved to be the absolute worst in terms of weather. All the dour predictions of rain came true and we woke up to a wet and cold NYC. As girly girls as we all are, we decided to cut our trip short and planned to jump on an early bus back to Philly. Of course, not before we squeezed in one last meal. I decided to take the girls to The Smith on 3rd and 10th located next to M2M. This place is typically packed for brunch and one usually sees a long line snaking out the door and down the block on a Sunday afternoon. But as we wanted to get back to Philly as early as possible in an attempt not to be too soaked by the rain, we were up and out of the hotel by 10:30AM. So when we arrived at the Smith for brunch we got a table with no wait..but also no access to alcohol. Apparently NYC will not allow liquor to be served before noon. No biggie as we all had a little too much the night before but just a cautionary note if you wanted to get your brunch time drink-on in NYC on a Sunday.



The brunch was fantastic. Huge portions, good food and great fun. By the time we left the restaurant the place was packed and the doorway jammed with people waiting for a seat. All in all the trip was a great success and we look forward to doing it again sometime.


http://www.joeginger.com/

http://www.thinknoodles.com/