The Richardson

via yelp

Now that we're both feeling well enough to do more than just plop into bed after work, Jesse suggested last night that we go get a drink at Pete's Candy Store, the bar next door to our apartment. But I had a better idea. I wanted to go somewhere different, so we went to check out a new bar in the hood, The Richardson. It's known for being a classy speakeasy joint with excellent specialty cocktails, but we didn't know if they much of a beer selection. Well, we were pleasantly surprised that they have several great beers on tap, all from Northeast microwbreweries (except for Guinness and Old Speckled Hen from across the pond). Jesse enjoyed Southern Tier's excellent IPA, which I'd never seen on draft before, and I had Sixpoint's Righteous Rye for a hearty winter beer. Beer prices aren't bad either, mostly $5 a beer, with a few $6 glasses. I'm so glad I convinced Jesse we should go, since we ended up having better beer than we would have at Pete's.

The Richardson's cocktails looked good, especially the Old Fashioned, which intrigued me with its mix of bitters, sugar cube, and bourbon, but at $9 a pop and a month of spending that's left me feeling poor, I decided to try it another time. Oh and they also serve small plates - olives, nuts, toasts, and sandwiches - but sadly, nothing looked particularly appealing to me.

Since The Richardson is only three blocks from my apartment, this might be another new standby for a nice romantic drink. I think I might even have my birthday there, since the interior is spacious, with a few nooks. They did a great job with the simple and sophisticated decor, which features beautiful wallpaper, a long bar, and smooth dark wood tables, chairs, and stools.

The Richardson
451 Graham Ave at Richardson Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn - Graham Ave stop

Inspiration

Like its sister and nextdoor restaurant, Diner, Marlow & Sons is one of my favorite restaurants for its fine selection of oysters, cheeses, and local ingredients cooked in seasonal meals with flawless execution. I forgot to tell you, but when I was there with my youngest sister on a rainy late night in April, we shared a divine ramp soup and their crispy-skinned brick pressed chicken, which is among the best chicken I've ever head. I hadn't been in a while, but it reminded me that Marlow & Sons surprises me everytime by taking simple sounding dishes and making them the most delicious things ever.


A couple weeks ago on a supremely hot early evening, we coincidentally took my other sister to Marlow & Sons too. We shared a baby kale salad with a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice and coated in thinly shaved parmesan. Meanwhile, Jesse had to himself a warm squid salad with a broth-like dressing over Bibb lettuce. Our meal was exquisite as always. However, this time I felt a bit more depressed than usual about their prices. I understand the worth of paying more money to eat local foods made wth care, but $10 for a salad of greens and parmesan?


Let's take it back to earlier this spring, when I planted a container of mixed green seeds on my deck. Most of what came up was baby kale, bitter greens, and sad small light leaves, and after a winter full of bitter green salads from the farmers market, it didn't look too appetizing. When the lettuces started to wilt in last week's 90 degree heat, I decided it was time to rip 'em out, eat 'em, and replace 'em with more fun herbs.


I harvested about a big salad worth of greens. Then one night when Jesse was working late and I could eat however simply I liked, I wanted to have a plain salad for dinner and set out to imitate Marlow & Sons baby kale salad. I mixed a vinaigrette of extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, dried herbs, and a couple splashes of lemon juice. Then I topped it off with grated parmesan. Ta da! Though mine may not have had the same soft brush of kale leaves, it was delicious and at a cost of essentially $0 vs $10, I say Marlow & Sons 0 Julia 1.


Likewise, Jesse's scrumptious squid salad at Marlow & Sons motivated us to pick up some squid from the Greenmarket this weekend. I've always been confused about how long to cook squid so I did some research. Apparently when sauteeing squid, you either need to cook it for under two minutes (after that it turns rubbery) or for more than 20 minutes (when the squid becomes tender again). Jesse chose to go with the long cooking version as he's done in the past. He sauteed it with olive oil and garlic, added a few splashes of vermouth and water, covered it, and let it cook for about 30 minutes until tender. The aroma that filled our apartment as the squid braised was salty and wonderful.


As for the salad we served it over, I didn't replicate Marlow & Sons' bibb lettuce saald exactly, but just used what I had on hand. Romaine lettuce, thinly sliced radishes and baby carrots (first of the season!), warm sauteed squid, that same olive oil-red wine vinaigrette, and parmesan. Surprisingly, it worked. I think you could refine it further by serving it over greens that have more structure and flavor, like mustard greens, and leaving out the carrots and parmesan. But for our purposes we enjoyed digging into a big healthy salad with perfectly tender small bites of squid, tasting of the sea.


Inspired by Jen from her ever-inspirational blog Last Night's Dinner, we also grilled clams and topped them with a garlic scape pesto. The pesto was made simply in the food processor using a few garlic scapes, a handful of parsley from my deck, the zest and juice of half a lemon, salt, pepper, parmesan, a handful of almonds, a few tablespoons of olive oil, and a tablespoon of water. It was lovely, but I think I prefer eating clams by their lonesome to enjoy their distinctive taste.

Brooklyn Kitchen Cupcake Cookoff

dark chocolate buckwheat almond cupcakes with coconut and almond frosting aka almond joy cupcakes

"I'm full of cupcakes," was the refrain tonight at Brooklyn Kitchen's 2nd Annual Cupcake Cookoff. I missed it last year, so I was determined to make it this year. And part of being able to make it tonight involved quitting my choir early in the season. I guess at this point, food has trumped music as the no. 1 interest in my life.

I rushed home from work, changed, fed and walked the dog, downed a shot of whiskey, frosted cupcakes, and raced over to Union Pool, all in less than an hour. Then I was all by my lonesome feeling awkward among the hipsters and meat market men of Union Pool, and thirty entries of fantastic-looking cupcakes everywhere. Luckily my friends Meag and Jess showed up to save the day. Once the cupcake tasting started, everyone was quickly overwhelmed by sugar. Some geniuses started the trend of cutting their cupcakes in halves, or even quarters, to aid the sampling process. It was indeed so overwhelming that I probably only tried about a third of the cupcakes. So when it came time to vote, I felt bad about not being a fair voter.

I voted for a peach champagne cupcake as well as a ginger spice cupcake, and my own almond joy cupcake of course. The ginger cupcake was just my style - hearty and cinnamony. At one point, I had even contempated making gingerbread cupcakes with vanilla frosting and red hots. But I didn't. Because the combination of chocolate and coconut always wins the day for me. So at least if I didn't win, I was pleased to see the ginger cupcakes win a prize. It made me wish I had made my cupcakes a little heartier, with more whole wheat, true to my own heart.


the judges take stock of their picks during announcement time

The inventive flavors ran the gamut - from rainbow red velvet to mint julep to pistachio to mint chocolate chip to boston creme to chocolate stout with salted caramel (the ultimate best in show), and so on. So the comptetition was original and fierce, and I didn't win any prizes. Sad day in cupcake land. I wasn't really expecting to win, though, because I know I'm not a good baker. Or maybe I'm just too hard on myself, like Jesse says, because he loves everything I make. In any case, we thought these cupcakes were delicious, even if everyone eles didn't agree.

I was going for a rich dark chocolate with subtle hints of nutty flavor from the buckwheat flour, ground almonds, and almond extract. And a rich almond joy-like frosting because, as I said, I love coconut and nuts. The recipe was somewhat modeled after my German chocolate cupcakes, adding in a darker chocolate and cocoa powder for a more intense, less cloying chocolate flavor. I think the end result is an improvement on my German chocolate cupcakes. So here goes, made with mostly local and organic ingredients, of course:

Almond Joy Cupcakes
dry ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

wet ingredients
5 tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg (or 2 smaller eggs, mine was humongous!)
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 oz dark chocolate (70% or 85% percent cocoa)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup boiling water
3/4 cup milk

frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Toast 1 cup slivered almonds in a dry pan over medium heat for about five minutes until some of the almonds turn golden-brown. Most of them may not look toasted, but it will subtly enhance their flavor nonetheless. Do not let them burn. Remove from heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, bring 1/3 cup water to boil. Break chocolate into pieces and combine in a bowl with cup cocoa powder. Pour boiling water over chocolate and stir until dissolved. Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two cupcake tins.

Process 1/2 cup toasted almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Reserve remaining 1/2 cup toasted almonds for frosting.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until combined and fluffy. Beat in one egg and then the almond extract. Add chocolate mixture and then milk, stirring continually until combined.

Combine flour, ground almonds, and baking soda in a larger bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and fold in wet mixture. Beat until smooth. Fill cupcake tins two-thirds of the way full and bake in the oven for 12-18 minutes. Make sure to check so they don't burn. Cupcakes are done when a knife or toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, combine the frosting ingredients in a bowl, beating until smooth. Add additional sugar or milk or butter depending on how stiff or creamy you like your frosting. I like mine stiff and sugar-coma-inducing over soft-grocery-store-like buttercream.

Combine coconut and toasted almond slivers in a small bowl. Frost each cupcake and then dip upside down in coconut almond mixture to coat. Continue until all cupcakes are frosted. Makes 12 large or 18 small cupcakes.

Dark Days Challenge Week 4: Saturday Mornings

What you see above is a typical brunch in my home on the weekends - eggs, toast, and homefries - and it's all local. I've been waiting to tell you all about my weekend morning feasts until I could say that. Last weekend I found flour at the farmers market, so I was able to make my weekly bread local AND homemade! I don't know how I missed the flour before...maybe I never looked closely enough, or maybe the farmer had just freshly milled some that week. It's from Oak Grove Mill on the Blew Farm in Franklin, NJ, only 50 miles away, and in addition to the whole wheat flour I purchased, he was selling a whole cornucopia of rye, cornmeal, pancake mixes, and buckwheat. I was happy to discover that this local flour worked just as well for breadmaking as King Arthur flour. So there you have it, homemade toast, potatoes and onions from the GreenMarket, and eggs and butter from Ronnybrook Farm. Somtimes I wash my breakfast down with a cup of sweet Ronnybrook milk too.

Afterward, we get dressed and trek a few blocks away to the Greenmarket in McCarren Park, where we refresh our supply of eggs, milk, butter, vegetables, and so on for the next week. (Sometimes I also supplement this with a trip to the Union Square market, if the selection in McCarren Park is particularly scarce). Saturday mornings have become my favorite part of the week ever since I started going to Greenmarkets this summer. For some reason, I really look forward to the chance to be outside in the morning air to pick out my food for the week from farmers who always manage to smile even when that morning air is frigid. And the chance to enjoy a leisurely, terrific, fresh meal, knowing that it's better than Enid's, which I used to think served the best brunch in Williamsburg. When the weather was warmer and the Greenmarket teemed with hipsters, strollers, dogs, and other ecletctic personalities, I was energized on Saturday mornings to wake up as early as possible and get to the market before all the good stuff ran out. Now that it's winter, I'm lazier and sleep in because there isn't much competition over eggs and vegetables, and also because I think I have a touch of seasonal affective disorder.

To think that last winter I didn't even think about where my food came from and felt awkward and intimidated by farmers markets. Actually, I think my whole environmental awareness emerged around this time last year, when I started reading No Impact Man and other green blogs, but my enthusiasm for local eating didn't really start until I was inspired by One Local Summer to make great meals out of ingredients from farmers markets. So next time you're planning a grocery store trip, consider spending a fun morning or afternoon at a farmers market instead. Something tells me you'll find it more enjoyable and rewarding.

Diner: More Than Meets the Eye

I had always thought that Diner, at 85 Broadway near the Williamsburg Bridge, was just that, a diner, albeit with some grandiose tendencies. After all, it is set in a restored 1927 diner car. I've stopped in there occasionally for late night drinks and snacks and scoffed at the menu - Risotto, I have often wondered, why would you ever want to order risotto or other fancy stuff at a diner?

The guys who own Diner also run the fabulous shop/restaurant next door, Marlow & Sons, which I love for its oysters, cheese plates, and brick-pressed chicken. However, for some reason, I never really made the connection that Diner would be likewise high foodie-minded. Recently, though, I've discovered that the owners are committed to sustainability, and have even expanded their Diner Journal into a blog that explores "food sources, our food politics, our culture and our ideas on sustainability. This week, I also learned from an interesting article on Brooklyn Based that both restaurants serve only local, grass-fed meats, even going so far as to have their own in-house butcher. Well, why the heck are they not advertising this on their websites - if I had known, I would have been patronizing both Marlow & Sons and Diner more frequently.

So I took a second look at the Diner menu, and realized it's not a diner at all, but a restaurant serving a delicious menu of local, seasonal offerings. (I would recommend changing their name to get more customers, but they are already plenty busy on weekend nights.) Jesse and I went there for dinner on Friday night, and enjoyed a hearty roasted potato and garlic soup,as well as blackened fish, but the star of the meal was the kale salad - warm chiffonades of kale eaten in mouthfuls with the flavorful crunch of bacon and breadcrumbs, and even a poached egg to top it off. As a side note, I was surprised to find that bacon is the only part of a pig that Jesse is willing to eat (pork is so fatty, he often whines), while I was trained by my parents to avoid bacon at all costs.

The one thing that I find disappointing about Diner is the cost of the alcohol. The cheapest drink on the menu is Stella at $5, while all other glasses are $7 or more and wine bottles start at $32. Cheers to them for serving Brooklyn-made Sixpoint beer, which Jesse and I cherish everytime we can find it, but I'm not sure why it's so much more expensive here than at other bars.

Beet and Roasted Garlic Cheese Crostini

My parents made a monumental trip the other day - not in distance, as it is only 56 miles from their home to mine , but psychologically, since they have an extreme aversion to "New Yuck City," and this was their first visit to my apartment (I've lived here for over a year). We decided that I would make an appetizer to welcome them before going out to dinner.

(We went to Aurora, which they didn't like, and that is just insane because it is seriously the best Italian restaurant in Williasmburg. The cuisine is Italian, not Italian-American, owing to the chef from Piemonte, and every bite is a delicious balance of simple flavors. The star last night was wild striped bass over fregola, a larger version of couscous, with shrimp, cockles, and tomatoes, creating an ethereal broth tasting of the sea.)

So, I racked my brain trying to decide on an appetizer that would be appropriately seasonal, and beets came to mind. I've been seeing them at the farmers market every week, somewhat daunted by their dark dirty exterior, waiting for the right opportunity to roast some beets.

Beets are typically served with goat cheese as a salad, but as a bread lover, I had to get bread involved even though I've never seen beet crostini before. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was great. I went with what I was able to get at my Greenmarket that morning, which was a loaf of hearty multigrain bread and a small tub of Ronnybrook Dairy's raw milk roasted garlic soft cheese. I would have used goat cheese if it was available, but this cheese worked well too - it was creamy, rich, spread easily, and the roasted garlic added a good punch of flavor to the crostini. I ended up with some leftover cheese and an extra roasted beet, because I hadn't realized that one beet would be more than enough, so I will happily be making this again as an appetizer for my holiday party next weekend.

Beet and Roasted Garlic Cheese Crostini

1 medium sized beet
half loaf of multigrain bread (or baguette)
4 oz raw milk roasted garlic soft cheese (or goat cheese)
olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
1 clove garlic

Preheat oven to 425. Wash beet thoroughly. Place beet on aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, and then wrap foil over the beet into a pouch. Roast in oven for 45-90 minutes, depending on size of beet, until the beet is tender when you stick a fork through it.

Let beet cool. Cut into small, thin slices. Place beet slices in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and stir lightly to coat.

Preheat oven to 450. Cut baguette into slices. Rub with garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in oven approximately 10 minutes until toasted. Let bread cool.

To prepare each crostini, spread approximately 1 tbsp cheese on a slice of bread and then top with a few slices of beet.

Urban Rustic

Today after my weekly Saturday morning trip to the farmers market, I checked out the new grocery store/cafe in North Williamsburg, Urban Rustic, on North 12th across from McCarren Park. It's the new venture from Aaron Wolf, one of the owners of the Lodge restaurant and director of King Corn. I was very excited about the prospect of a place that offers local (mostly from within 100 miles), farm fresh goods just two blocks away from my apartment. However, I was disappointed to find that it is too expensive for me to frequent. This is strange considering that the owners claimed in this article that "Urban Rustic prices won’t eat your paycheck."

Although the ideology behind Urban Rustic thrills my heart, when I was inside it, it felt pretty similar to other "health food" or "natural food" stores in the neighborhood, with a similar high markup in prices. For example, Ronnybrook milk, which I had just purchased from the farmers market for $2 was $4.40 at Urban Rustic. They have bulk rice, beans, etc, but again it is much more expensive than I would pay at Fairway. (I guess I should look into whether these bulk items are also local, since they probably aren't at Fairway.) And moreover, the sandwich prices are also in the $7-9 range. I'm not like your average hipster who shells out money without a care; I am actually willing to put in the effort to make food in my home and save money. So for all those average hipsters who don't get up early enough on a Saturday to go to the farmers market...Urban Rustic is for them.

I will say, though, that I think this is where I will primarily buy my meat, now that Dines Farms at the Greenmarket has been replaced by Elysian Fields, with its outrageous prices. We bought organic whole chicken and chicken breast from a local farm today for $6.25/lb at Urban Rustic, which is acceptable to me. We're planning on making the whole chicken in our crock pot tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

My 23rd birthday was this past Friday. Birthdays feel kind of silly now...ever since turning 21 there's nothing to look forward to anymore except getting older. Jesse took me to DOC Wine Bar, a charming romantic place in Williamsburg where the waiters always have thick Italian accents. I wish we went there more often, but they serve light Italian fare, which Jesse isn't as into as me, and the wine is expensive, so we only end up going for special occasions. I looove their pistokku, a Sardinian flatbread topped with beef carpaccio, arugala, and goat cheese.

Last year I wanted to make cupcakes for my birthday party, but Jesse insisted I not do work on my birthday and that he would take care of it. So he surprised me with a cake at the bar, but of course, it was very difficult to serve and eat because he had to run out and get paper plates and forks etc. Silly boy, convient cupcakes that you can hold in your hand are much better for bars.

So this year, I insisted that I would bake my own cupcakes, and I decided on a German chocolate version, which I've been wanting to make ever since I was first initatied into its delicious combination of chocolate and coconut last spring. They were my best cupcakes ever, probably because I sucked it up and added so many wet ingredients to make them moist. I've seen German chocolate recipes that call for toasted pecans in the icing, but that shit is expensive yo, so I left it out.

The cupcakes were all gone at the end of the night, and so was my sobriety. My friends joined me at Bushwick Country Club, which is not in Bushwick nor is it a country club - it's just a casual bar in Williamsburg. They have a policy of letting the birthday girl drink free all night so long as you bring 15 people. And they invited me to be a member, with a card and everything, which allows me to take advantage of drink specials whenever I go back. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

I had one of those nights where I talked my head off to everyone and anyone but can now hardly remember what I said. I was supposed to go to Neue Galerie the next day to continue my birthday fun, but I had one too many whiskey gingers and was sick all morning, so I will have to see the Klimt exhibit another weekend.

German Chocolate Cake

1/3 cup boiling water

4 oz sweet German chocolate or Baker's chocolate

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

Bring 1/2 cup water to boil. Pour 1/3 cup into a bowl and add 4oz chocolate, broken into pieces. Stir until chocolate is dissolved. Let cool.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350. Grease two 12-muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.

In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Beat in flour alternately with milk until just incorporated.

Pour mixture into muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes (check at 15 to see if done, if not, let bake another few minutes).

While the cupcakes are baking, also toast the coconut for the icing:

Spread 1 cup coconut flakes on a baking sheet and bake for 3-5 minutes (check on them to make sure they don't get too browned or burned!) Cupcakes are done when a knife stuck into them comes out clean.

While cupcakes cool, prepare icing:
3 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp milk

3 cup confectioners sugar

1 cup toasted coconut flakes

Beat above ingredients together, vigorously, as in the photo above, and add additional sugar or milk to reach desired consistency. Once cupcakes are cool, spread icing over the tops with a knife. Makes 24 cupcakes. Enjoy, and try not to think about the millions of bowls and utensils you now need to clean!

PS. Sunday was the first snow of the season in Brooklyn! I'm glad the weather waited until after my birthday for winter to start in earnest.

PPS. Thanks to Gina for using her new baby, aka camera, to take the supremely delicious looking cupcake at the top and the one of me stirring vigorously.