Restaurant Week - Lure Fishbar

Since its restaurant week, Adam and I decided to take advantage by eating some goood foood.

I was craving fish, since its healthy and we haven't been cooking it all that much at home, so Lure Fishbar sounded like a good bet. They had a good menu and awesome reviews on Yelp. (Yelp rocks if you didn't already know).

They only had one reservation for Friday night (6pm), so like the loser that we are, took it. We certainly weren't alone - tons of people were already eating dinner when we arrived, and they weren't senior citizens. (I love seniors and will gladly partake in early bird specials, so I am in no way making fun)

It was so very interesting inside, like being on a yacht and its HUGE. I had no idea how big this place was.


We started with appetizers:


Tuna Tartar with sesame vinaigrette and crispy wontons

This was absolutely delicious, fresh and refreshing. What a great start to a meal. It looked like a small portion, but was really more than enough to get my appetite started.

New England Clam Chowder


It was a small bowl, but very tasty. It actually had real littleneck clams that were whole, not chopped up. Definitely a quality soup! It was gone in about 2 minutes, Adam was hungry!

Appetizers naturally lead to the main course:


Seared Yellowfin Tuna with soba noodles, thai peanut sauce, mushrooms and lotus root

This dish was incredible. It was a beautiful portion with so much flavor, I just couldn't stop talking about it the whole meal. I couldn't figure out what the lotus root was, but it has a similar flavor and consistency as water chestnuts, which I love. The tuna was seared perfectly, the noodles were ooey gooey delicious with the most amazing peanut sauce. I loved this dish.

Steamed Branzino with Ponzu and white Rice

This looked like a simple dish, but it packed a ton of flavor. The fish was so tender it practically melts in your mouth. The ponzu sauce was just the right amount of tangy and salty. Adam ate this dish up!

There's always room for dessert!

Warm Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Ice-Cream and Salted Popcorn

Wow was this GOOD. The cake had this ridiculous delicious fudgey center. I can't eat ice-cream, but totally tasted some of it anyway. You really need the cool, creaminess from the ice-cream to fully enjoy this delectable dessert. The popcorn was incredible and enhanced everything about this dish. I would easily pay $10 for this dessert.

Apple Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Ice-Cream

This was a special for the night and not part of the regular or Restaurant Week menu. I'm not a huge fan of bread pudding, but this was really good. It was filled with thinly sliced apples and pretty much melted in your mouth. It took us a while to figure out what the ice-cream was, but it complimented the dish nicely. There was an incredible homemade caramel sauce all over it that pretty much made you want to pick up the place and lick it clean.

Its also important to note that I had a lychee martini that was out of this world good. It had fresh lychee puree and a large gorgeous lychee on a stick in the glass. I'm a HUGE fan of drink snacks, so this made me particularly happy. It was worth the hefty price tag of $13.


Lure Fishbar is definitely good and would give it 4.5 stars. Service, decor and food were all outstanding. They didn't make us feel like lesser patrons because we were ordering from the RW menu, which was definitely a plus.

Lots of Goood Fooood!

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to partake in some major deliciousness. I've been TRYING to eat healthy, and for the most part, I do. But for some reason this was a particularly tasty weekend filled with great and not-so-great for you treats.

To celebrate my friend's 30th birthday, we ventured to Zenkichi, a very unique Japanese restaurant. Tamami (the birthday girl), is Japanese and it is always wise to venture with someone who is in the know. She knew exactly what to order and how to order it. The food was incredible and perfect for sharing.

Here are some of the highlights:
Raw Jewel of the Day: I love sushi, but more recently have forgotten the rice completely and just go straight for sashimi. Zenkichi had a special selection of incredible fresh and delicious fish. This dish came with fluke, yellow tail and sea urchin. I HATE sea urchin, but this was was the best I've "tried" so far. By try I mean I took a tiny spec on my chop stick and winced when it hit my tongue. I love seafood and fish and everything in between, but sea urchin and I are NOT friends. Yuck! But hey, Tamami and her man, Ramon, were in love with it. I'll stick to the fish.

Vegetable Tempura - delicious, perfectly fried with lots of different veggies like pumpkin!

Potato Mochi - OMG delicious fried balls of rice and potato that you dip in spicy mayo. They were ooey gooey on the inside and perfectly crisp on the outside. Must get more!

Camembert & Shrimp Corn Tempura - I wasn't able to partake in these because of the cheese, but everyone said they were really good. They looked pretty!

Grilled fish of the day - Tsukiji was the special and it was amazing. This is the cheek of the yellowtail and apparently the very best part of the fish. I love yellowtail, but always eat it raw. So it was particularly interesting to have it cooked. Probably the first time in my life where I ate something cooked for the first time when I usually eat it raw. Anyhoo, it was amazingly tasty!

Hot Udon - Definitely one of the best udon noodle soups I've had. It was similar to miso soup, but served in a HUGE bowl with the worlds largest chop sticks and a laddle. There was a egg floating around in it, which I choose to ignore. It was fun having Tamami serve everyone into smaller bowls since the noodles were slippery and difficult to grab.

Grilled Riceball with Salmon Miso Chazuke Style - Oh Yeah! This is why you go with your Japanese friends to a Japanese restaurant. I would NEVER have thought to order this. It was AMAZZZZINC! It was nothing but a riceball in the middle of a big bowl with some reddish looking paste on top, then they pour green tea into it. Sounds simple enough, but its so delicious. You then distribute this yummy mixture into smaller bowls to enjoy. It was salty, a little spicy, with the green tea bringing a nice warmth to the dish. It didn't taste like tea to tell you the truth. It was good and I want more.

Now on to DESSERT - the best part of the meal, of course.
The staff was awesome and brought out a dessert with two candles to sing Tamami happy birthday.

This is the Walnut Chocolate Pudding: Rich & creamy dark chocolate pudding with walnuts. It was SUPER rich, almost like a chocolate mouse and it came with red bean paste, not sure why but we ate that too.

Mineoka Tofu
Milk tofu (made with heavy cream and kudzu starch, no soymilk): Azuki red beans

I wasn't able to try this because of the dairy, but everyone LOVED it. Adam thought it was one of the best desserts he's ever had. It was apparently finger licking good, as everyone took turns sticking their fingers in the little cup to get the last bits out. We're classy people.

To satisfy MY dessert craving, we went with the one dessert I was able to eat:
Grapefruit Agar Gelee: Refreshingly tart agar jelly made with Japanese seaweed (no gelatin) served in scooped-out grapefruit

Not only did it look pretty, it was SO good. It was everything that is delicious about a grapefruit. I don't know how they made this, but its creamier than jello, but rich in flavor. We were surprised by how good this dessert was. At no point did I feel bad I couldn't eat dairy. This was an EPIC win!

Overall, Zenkichi was a great restaurant. I didn't even go into detail about the decor. Each table is separated into a booth with a little stick curtain that the staff pulls up when they're speaking to you. You call them over via a button on the table - so you have completely privacy during your meal. Check it out for a romantic date!


On Sunday, after watching a good movie (True Grit - definitely go see it), my bf and I were faced with a dinner decision. Do we use one of my ScoutMob coupons or do we try something different. We decided to venture to Katz Deli in the LES and share pretty much the best pastrami sangwich in the world. Seriously, this thing is good. I doubt there will ever be a time in my life when I feel it's okay to spend $15 on a sangwich. That is some serious money. I eat steak for that price. But this is a magical sangwich famous everywhere and it really does live up to the hype.

We shared ONE sangwich (and remember to tip the guys, they tend to give you more meat and that's definitely a good thing, plus they work hard), a matzoh ball soup and their free pickle plate. All you need a touch of mustard and the rest is bliss. When you're eating this gift from heaven, you really want to eat a whole one but its reallllly fatty. To sum up this sangwich in one word - SUCCULENT! Seriously, drop what you're doing and go there right now. And don't lose your ticket! :)


The soup was excellent too - with a perfectly fluffy GIANT matzoh ball. It came with only one matzoh ball, but it was perfectly seasoned with the right texture. Just enough salt to make it tasty but not leave your blood pressure through the roof. I'm really sensitive to salt, so less salt in my food is a good thing.

Nothing like a weekend of good eatin'!!!

Screw You Restaurants

What is it about New Years Eve that turns restaurants into giant assholes.

I had my NYE plans set, a table at The Richardson, setup for free and without issue. I figured I'd eat nearby and walk over with my boyf

riend. My plans were tainted when the nearby restaurants,

specifically Sel de Mer, refused to take a reservation. I spoke with 2 individuals who were going to talk to management to see if they could "bend the rules" a bit so I could enjoy a delicious dinner on NYE.

Normally this place is packed, so I didn't want to just show up there and wait in the cold for a seat (its a small joint). They wouldn't do reservations for any less than 6. It's pretty bullshit if you ask me. Everyone in the area was taking reservations but they had those fancy pre fixe menus and I didn't feel like engorging on a $65 dinner. I need room in my belly for fancy cocktails.

So, after some deliberation, I decided to throw the whole idea of going out to dinner, well, out the window of course.

Screw Your Restaurants - I'll make my own fancy and delicious dinner.

I decided to do something relatively easy since I had work on Friday. With a little planning everything would come together with time to spare to get ready, so I could look my best.

Braised Short Ribs with Potato and Parsnip Puree and Blanched French Beans

This dish is made in a crock pot and is super easy to prepare. I would definitely make this again! We enjoyed it very much and had left overs enough for a nice lunch.

STEP #1: Getting the short ribs ready

What you'll need -

• Beef Short Ribs (I purchased 2 packages, each containing 3 pieces or about 2.5 lbs)
• 1 bottle of dry red wine (cheaper the better)
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes (do not drain)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1/3 cup of chopped parsley
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Brown your meat:

Clean the short ribs, then pat them dry with paper towel. Get your frying pan nice and hot so that a drop of water sizzles. I use cast iron, personally, but any pan will do. I slightly coated the pan with a little olive oil to prevent sticking. Then place the short ribs meaty side down. Mine were pretty much cubes of meat, so I

proceeded to brown all sides. This will enhance the flavor of the dish and make your meat extra pretty. Who doesn't want extra pretty meat for dinner ;)

Store in a sealed container until you're ready to use. I refrigerated my browned short ribs over night until I was ready to cook in the morning.

Step #2: Prepping your Crock Pot

I put all my ingredients except the browned meat in the crock pot overnight in the fridge, so it would be super fast to set up in the morning before work. So put everything including the onions, garlic, parsley, tomatoes and red wine in the pot, seal and place in the fridge. In the morning, take it out, set up your crock pot on low (if you're cooking it for more than 6 hours). Don't forget to put

your meat in there or you'll have nothing but stewed veggies. Not that I'm against eating just veggies.

Step #3: Making a Sauce from Your Sauce

What you'll have when your short ribs are cooked, and you'll know because the meat is so tender it almost falls off the bone (and probably will), is a lot of thin gravy. Much of it will be a bit oily because the meat is rather fatty. I strained some of the fat away and placed about 2 cups of the less oily gravy in a sauce pan. I used my potato masher to mush up the tomato and onions. I added some more wine while simmering the mixture. To thicken the mixture, you need to make a thin paste of flour and cold water, which I do in a glass and mix with a spoon until smooth. You're going to SLOWLY whisk in the flour mixture into the simmering gravy. If you go too fast it'll thicken too quickly and you'll be left with pudding rather than gravy. Make sure you're using a whisk that doesn't damage your pan. Metal on metal is fine or silicon on porcelain. Whisk the shit out of your gravy till its thick enough to hold its own against your mashed potatoes. I added some more salt, pepper and a bit of dried rosemary.

Step #4: Potato & Parsnip Time!

What you'll need:

• 5 or 6 large red potatoes (scrub, remove eyes and dark spots)
• 2 or 3 large parsnips (peeled)
• Butter (a few tablespoons depending on your taste)
• Half & Half (or low fat milk if you prefer)
• Salt

Bring salt water to a boil and let the potatoes and parsnip simmer until you can easily stick a fork into them. Drain the water, and use a potato riser to puree everything. A potato ricer is the best $10 purchase you'll make in your kitchen. I use mine ALL THE TIME. It makes the most deliciously creamy mashed potatoes. Yum!

The parsnips are really fibrous, so it might take a few tries to get them smooth. Discard the extra fibers that don't make it through the potato ricer. Add butter and the half/half while mixing. With some salt and pepper, this is ready to go.

Step #5: Don't forget the French Beans.

French beans are pretty much smaller green beans. They look and taste the same, just a little more crisper and smaller. I didn't want to taint their tastiness with anything else, so blanching is what I did. When you get water in a pot to a boil, place it on low heat and be sure to keep an eye on the beans. They'll be ready in 3 - 5 minutes, depending on how crisp you want them.

Now you're ready to plate and enjoy. Overall, the meal took me about 30 - 45 minutes of prep time and 30 - 45 minutes of cooking. It wasn't difficult at all, so even the most novice cook can conquer this impressive meal. It's hearty though, so be warned that you're in for some good eatin'