WD~50

After a discussion on New Year's Day 2012 over brunch about the New American restaurant, WD~50 which experiments with molecular gastronomy, after coordinating a date that worked for everyone (probably the most difficult part), our reservations were made within the week! 

Once there, there was talk of possibly getting the 9-course tasting meal which everyone at the table needs to participate in. While we may have missed out on some food experiences by opting out, I'm pretty sure it was the right choice to prevent and gut-busting...an attractive image, I know. At a restaurant like this, where I have no idea what to expect, I figured I'd go with whatever has been recommended by previous diners and by our waiter, who was asked to give his opinion on what he felt were the best dishes for every course before ordering. 

Drink:  WD~75 (which is White dog whiskey, meyer lemon, cocchi american) - my first reaction was...MY DRINK IS BUBBLING!!! But it was quite nice, light and bubbly, but still pretty strong

WD~75

Appetizer: Cold fried chicken with buttermilk ricotta, tabasco, and caviar. It was interesting, the chicken was cold, but the caviar was warm and overall, all delicious. I also took a bite of my friend's Aerated foie gras which was really rich and yummy, especially in combination with the paper thin "bread" that we had already devoured a round of before our appetizers arrived. 

Addictive flatbread...or the top layer of toasted bread?

eyeing my neighbor's aerated foie gras

Cold fried chicken

Entree: While Smoked Char was also on the menu, I didn't want to compromise my Char experience from Lure Fishbar earlier that week, so I went with the Pork ribs with hush puppies, spaghetti squash and red-eye gravy. I can't say I was all that excited about the Pork Ribs, they were kind of cubed, and just too much for me. The hush puppies however, with the spaghetti squash mixed in with the red-eye gravy, and yes, that's like the red-eye coffee, were awesome. 

Pork Ribs

Char - which I did try, and was pretty good, but not the same!

Taking the opportunity between courses to pose with the menu

Dessert: My friend and I split our desserts because they all just looked really good. I got the violent looking Chocolate with beet, long pepper and ricotta, and she got the Liquid Churro with bitter cocoa, chilies and meyer lemon. The chocolate and beet dessert was really interesting...in addition to looking like a crime scene, what looked almost like rock candies, was actually soft, and beet flavored. Overall, it was just...interesting. I didn't quite know what was going on, but I didn't dislike it...The liquid churro wasn't quite what I expected, but I must say I was a fan of the pepper chocolate. I'm just a fan of spicy chocolate in general.

Liquid Churro

Chocolate & Beets

I might have more of an idea of what everything on the plate was...and everything that we ate throughout the course of the meal for that matter, if we all hadn't been so focused on taking photos of our food while the waiter was patiently trying to explain what our food was. By the last course, he pretty much just gave up. But hey, now I have all these photos of my food to remember by and can look up the meal descriptions on their website anyway =P


The whole experience was really interesting and pretty good, but I think ultimately, I'm still more a fan of comfort home-food!

WD-50's take on the Rice Krispy Treat, sweet & salty with ice cream in the center...
I happened to get the last one, which is why it looks to forlorn...and also resembles something else...=X

NYC Restaurant Week

In order to fulfill my "Dine 3x and get an Amex Credit" requirements, which really was just an excuse for me to go out to eat many times during restaurant week, in addition to dining at Le Cirque, I also ate at Brasserie Ruhlmann and Lure Fishbar.

Brasserie Ruhlmann was pretty good, though I must say nothing totally spectacular, especially after I had already had the braised beef at Le Cirque the night before.

Menu & Bread

Appetizer: I chose the Winter Squash Risotto because I'm a sucker for anything risotto and have become a huge fan of anything squash lately as well.

Entree: Braised short rib, wanted to see if I could actually tell the difference between the one here and the one at Le Cirque. Was pretty good, but a bit on the salty side.

Dessert: My gut told me to go with the Banana Tart & Maple Sauce, but I had a last minute panic moment, and I chose the Bittersweet  Chocolat Pudding (it was fahncy with the capital "C" and without the "e"). Luckily, my mom had ordered what I call the "dessert that got away" and she was nice enough to trade with me!

Winter Squash Risotto

Braised Short Rib

Bittersweet Chocolat Pudding

The "one that got away" - Banana Tart & Maple Sauce

A week later, I went on a "date" with my sister to Lure Fishbar, which she had been to before, but I have only peered into before and dreamed about their lobster roll and tuna tartare. As with risotto and squash, I am an even bigger fan of anything tartare. Unfortunately, they no longer offer lobster roll on the restaurant menu (my sister said it was because she ordered it the last time she was there), but what I got instead was ah-maaaaazing! I can't even describe the food-gasm that was going on in my mouth. And it seems that another "Yelp" user had a similar experience. I found her review when I was trying to find the name of the entree that I ended up ordering, as it was a special on the regular menu that could be substituted into the restaurant week menu. But before I jump to there, I actually for once, got there early, and didn't feel like wandering the nearby shops for too long, so I settled into the bar for Happy Hour and a most delicious Grapefruit Margarita and playing with Instagram. The bartender was also so kind as to provide me with a bowl of chips without me even asking! I was a fan.

tempted to eat the jar of lychee behind my drink...

Grapefruit Margarita w/ chips!

Finally, my sister arrived...well, to be fair, she arrived on time, and we went to our table for the following food that I am even excited to be writing about (I  know, I'm a dork):

Appetizer: Tuna Tartare. There was no sharing to be had, so we each ordered our own.

Entree: Some sort of char that was one of the most fantastic things I have ever tasted. It just melted in my mouth and had all these different flavors happening at the same time that I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's how the Yelp user described it: 

"They had a special fish of the day that was added to the restaurant week menu. It was called something Char. The waiter told me it's similar to a Salmon. OMG! It was so buttery soft...melted away in my mouth. It was mixed in with this creamy yogurt sauce...YUMS. The warm chocolate cake was an explosion of sin and delight. Loved it. "

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Cake with Candied Popcorn. I was a little on the fence about what to get for dessert, but she sold me on the popcorn. Also love popcorn...come to think of it, there doesn't seem to be many foods that I don't love...it was good, but I was already so full from dinner. Also, hard to compete with the chocolate & green tea cake that I have had from Spot Dessert Bar about a month ago.

Our drinks are friends.

Tuna Tartare!!!

Char View 1

Char View 2

Warm Chocolate Cake w/ Candied Popcorn

My sweet ride.

Baltimore Eats

I've recently come to the realization of a few things:

-  I enjoy posting about my own culinary adventures in the kitchen than of places that I've eaten. Maybe it's partially because I don't feel like I'm one to make judgements on 

- I am very tempted splurge for cable TV just so I can watch the Food Network...but then I might never leave the couch and be even more hungry than I already am...all the time.

- I am having an almost quarter life crisis about being in the wrong industry. But perhaps one day I really will make the switch from fashion to food. They both start with the same letter, right?

This burst of epiphanies occurred to me when I was visiting my cousin down in Baltimore for a few days this past week and did much watching of the Food Network and giving in to impulse food cravings based on commercials I saw on TV - even though I know how I am being marketed to, I actually enjoy falling for it sometimes.

The first meal I had was after I arrived Tuesday evening and she had ordered take-out from a Thai/Japanese place and I had picked up some Korean pancakes from the supermarket before taking the bus down. I must have been really hungry...because I missed to take a picture of the food. No worries though, the leftovers were captured the next day at lunch. But before I get to that, we must have the most important meal of the day...breakfast!

Breakfast was inspired by something I saw on one of the cooking competitions on TV years ago (I am starting to notice that my life seems to revolve around the tube...), and I had had a conversation with someone, maybe at WD-50 the other night (will post about that at a later date...I hope), about this dish. But enough of the background story, for lack of a better name to call it, I shall refer to it as pumped up toast. I know that there is an actual name for this dish, but I have no idea...oh wait, I just did a Google search, thank you Google & Wikipedia, it's called an "Egg in the basket." 

What it is, or at least what I did, was to cut out a piece of the bread in the shape of a circle, and throw it onto a pan of heated oil, fried both sides, then added the egg into where the piece was cut out. For the first piece, I had thought that the egg would cook through both sides and that I wouldn't have to flip the whole thing over, but the top of the egg didn't seem like it was going to be cooked any time soon, and the bottom of the bread was starting to burn. But by that point, I had already sprinkled it in parmesan cheese, which I used her nifty handy-dandy grater to grate (I want one btw). So, that one came out a little more messy than I would have liked. However, I did learn my lesson for the second one, and flipped the bread with the egg before adding on the cheese. Plated them with some blueberries and apple sauce I found in the fridge (and yes, I was trying to be fancy by using the term "plated"), and voila! Breakfast is served.

I want this grater, it has a measuring cup attached at the bottom!

Toast Preparation

First not-so-good attempt that I tried to cover up with cheese...but still tasty!

Learned my lesson the second time around

Final Product

We took a stroll in the nearby park after breakfast as it was a whopping 50-60 degrees out and sunny...on the first day of February??? Hello Global Warming, I see you have arrived.

Thought I'd share some photos of fun in the sun:

The pond from different angles

What not to do with a cannon...

Hiding...

The view from below

After our post-breakfast stroll...we had lunch. Lunch was leftovers from last night's dinner and Korean rice cakes with hot pepper sauce which I picked up at the grocery store along with the Korean pancakes (the bus stop was near K-town).

Preparation

Dukbokki!

Lunch!

After lunch I went to visit a friend of mine who worked a few blocks away, and on my way back, I had a lightbulb moment inspired by the many waffle commercials I had been seeing on TV, and stopped by Safeway to pick up the necessary ingredients for "Breakfast for Dinner" - Cinnamon Toast Waffles, Kefir, and Hash Browns.

We did take a bit more of a break this time between meals, and spent some time up on her rooftop catching the last few rays of the sun.

The View (and not the one with Whoopi Goldberg)

My attempt to see what all the fuss has been about...I never actually opened the book, but took a nap instead

Panorama Shot

In my opinion, breakfast for dinner is always a good idea - Almost Midnight Breakfast events in college were my favorite. Plus, we ate it while watching TV. I felt like an indulgent child...and I liked it! I also topped the waffles with Vanilla ice cream and bananas, and won my skeptical cousin over with the combination, though she still wasn't ready to buy into me eating waffles with ice cream for breakfast. 

Afterwards, we also indulged in our impulse craving for buttery popcorn (there must have been a commercial somewhere...), and my cousin indulged me in a Reeses treat, as I had asked her earlier that day if she had any chocolatey peanut butter treats after seeing a Reeses commercial - I'm not brand picky! Any sort of similar combination would have been sufficient for my craving.

Side & Aerial views of my breakfast for dinner

Sweet & Buttery treats!

She dropped me off the next morning in downtown Baltimore by the inner harbor on her way to work since my bus didn't leave until later in the afternoon. I took the morning hour to hang out at the Barnes & Noble Starbucks (which isn't really Starbucks so I couldn't use my giftcard!), and I thought I'd give the Sea Salt Caramel Mocha a try, because I've always been curious. However, I asked for no whipped cream...and I got whipped cream =(

Didn't feel like complaining, so I just dealt with it my own way:

How I deal...

B & N escalators

Fish that greeted me outside of B&N, and me alone...

I then went to check out the Baltimore Aquarium for a few hours, and I dare so I was probably more excited about some of the things than the little kids running around me.

I generally don't like jelly fish...but these were pretty cool looking

FLASH! just kidding

With some more time to kill, I took some scenic touristy shots before settling in for a quick lunch - never a good idea to get on a bus with an empty stomach.

I love playing tourist - something about not being responsible for knowing anything!

Oyster Po' Boy & a Bloody Mary

On my train ride home later that night, I felt kind of guilty for having indulged so much for the past few days, that I thought I got a salad with beets, onions, cheese, salsa & Balsamic Vinaigrette.

My attempt at being "healthy"