Cravings

Every once in a while I start to crave eating. I know we all crave different kinds of food from time to time for whatever reason, whether it be sushi or fried chicken or chocolate, but what I’m talking about is a dining experience. For some reason, I start to get an image in my head of a specific restaurant and I can’t help but picture experience and taste my meal. I think of the ambience, I look at the menu and try to imagine how the food tastes and I can even see myself drinking a very specific bottle of wine. This craving is extremely visceral for me despite sometimes not even knowing what the restaurant looks like. I become fixated on a dining experience and I feel like it has to happen and won’t be satisfied until it does.

Today I thought I’d write about 5 or so restaurants that I can’t stop thinking about. I get to go to some soon, have been to some before and hope to find a reason to go to others in the future.

1. Degustation. As it turns out I’m actually going tonight. This restaurant has been on my radar for a while as I read interview after interview with famous chefs who call Wesley Genovart’s 16 seat French inspired Tapas joint one of the most underrated restaurant finds in the city. Add in the fact that it’s moderately priced (meaning if I like it I can go again soon) and there is a recipe for excitement. I can already picture myself biting into the squid stuffed with short ribs over lentils and chorizo and smiling as I finish it off with a sip of good Rioja.

All The Degustation info you could want.

NY Times Review

Degustation menu

2. Picholine. Another restaurant that I get to go to soon. However this one is more of a destination dinner with its refined eclectic European style cooking. Luckily my parent’s 30th anniversary and my birthday are both next week, giving me a good excuse to talk them into taking me here. In addition we are friendly with a good friend of the chef. I’m incredibly intrigued by the idea of chicken stuffed with liquid foie gras and adorned by chanterelles. Another interesting choice is the sea urchin panna cottawhich promises to be incredibly fresh and sea like in a totally unique kind of way. I’m hoping this meal beats the elegance and refinement of the one I had last summer at Eleven Madison Park

Dinner Menu

Tasting Menu

3. Sushi Yasuda. I’ve already been here but I think I’m going again for my quarterly blowout (Spring version) in early April. At least twice a day I have fantasies of sitting at the wood sushi counter and being fed perfectly seasoned morsels of different kinds incredibly fresh and succulent tuna from all over the world. I taste perfectly fishy slices of mackerel (more kinds than I can remember) expertly seasoned with nothing more than lemon and sea salt and I envision appreciating the subtle differences in six different kinds of fresh salmon. I love Yasuda for its amazing fish and hate it for ruining everyday sushi for me forever.

NY Mag write up

Adam's thoughts

4. Bar Jamon

I’ve been here recently but I cant help thinking of how much I enjoyed trying different quartinos of Spanish wine and eating manchego and pan con tomate ( a fantastically underrated dish.) The bocadillo sandwich is also one of the most simple (pan con tomate again, this time with aioli and serran ham!) yet delicious sandwiches I’ve had in a while, rivaling the three terrine Banh Mi from Momofuku. I think part of the reason I want to go back is because it’s so accessible. You can walk in and pick a communal table and stand and eat. Add this to the affordable prices and you have a restaurant that I should be at bi-weekly. I’ve also been on a Spanish wine kick lately. I think I need to find a buddy to go back with. Come on friends, step up.

Menu

5. Telepan/Blue Hill

Been to both recently and have to say that both seasonal farm to table restaurants do two things really well—pork and eggs. And I always have a pork and eggs craving. No rush to go but I’ve been thinking of the Telepan brunch (only 30 dollars) featuring coddled eggs, biscuits and scrapple (almost like a super sausage biscuit with egg) and the slow poached egg with oyster mushrooms in an herb broth from Blue Hill—creamy earthy green and perfect. The thought of a perfectly soft cooked egg letting its richness melt into a savory herb broth makes me want to learn how to better slow cook eggs.

Telepan Brunch Menu

Blue Hill Dinner Menu


There are others too. I want to try the Burgers at Stand and Veselka and have a strong urge to eat Bone Marrow at both Landmarc and Blue Ribbon. In fact every time I look into the cupboard at work and spot the matzos meal I cant help but think of Blue Ribbon’s matzos meal coated fried chicken. Allen & Delancey and Fiamma are other restaurants that I want to try in a very general sense while Bar Boulud has me thinking of a good Crozes-Hermitage and Charcuterie. I also feel the need to eat some more soft Brisket and Kreuz sausage from Hill country. For some reason I’ve also been thinking of romaine hearts a lot recently. I guess I’m weird like that.

Happy eating…

Dining Brief: Bar Jamon

Last night I decided to pay an impromptu visit to Bar Jamon, the smaller tapas bar /drinking bar hybrid right next to Casa Mono. This little place on 17th and Irving is a nice low key spot for meeting for a nice glass of Spanish wine or sherry (including several 250 ml cuarto selections) and a couple of small bites. The wine list is impressive and although the food selection is fairly limited, Bar Jamon doesn’t pretend to be a restaurant that will serve you a huge meal.

Instead, indulge in one of the 12 Spanish cheeses they offer with accompaniments from honey coated Marcona Almonds to Membrillo, to fennel or tomato. Then enjoy some thinly sliced Serrano ham, better and less salty than at most other Spanish restaurants. The pan con tomate, a deliciously garlicky warm piece of bread rubbed with tomato is also supremely satisfying. What’s even better is that if you like the Serrano ham and the pan con tomate, you can combine them into a sandwich. The Bocadillo de Bar Jamon combines the two and mixes in some manchego cheese for what might be a perfectly sized and incredibly delicious bar snack. The tapas selection also includes chorizo and pickled peppers, quail, duck liver, tuna and even a soft egg with somewhat rare and seasonal cardoons—everything is $12 and under.

Although the place is tiny and you will most likely be standing the room is comfortable and I never felt crowded. The next time you have a hunger for some Spanish nibbles and a glass of Rioja and don’t want to break the bank, head over to Bar Jamon. Your wallet and your belly with thank you.