Apricot Custard

Spelling lessons

I'm back from my brief hiatus!   We got married last week so I have been a little busy.   

We had a small wedding, just immediate family, and went to Balthazar in SoHo for a long lunch afterwards.   As always, the food was delicious, the wine wonderful, and the service was excellent.  I had the best salad I've had in long time as my starter - their Balthazar salad.   According to the Balthazar cookbook, which my brother and his wife gave us as a wedding gift, this eponymous salad was inspired by an whimsical attempt to include ingredients using every letter in the restaurant's name, which gives us: beets, avocado, lemon juice, truffle oil, haricot verts, asparagus, (lemon) zest, and radishes. Now, I'm missing the final "a".  Working from their cookbook, and memory, I can't figure it out!   There's also ricotta salata and fennel in there, and 3 kinds of lettuces - romaine (aka cos), mache (aka lamb's lettuce), and radicchio, but none of those gives me an "a" ...

Where has all the crispy duck confit gone?

The first time I was in Paris, a few years ago, I pretty much subsisted on confit de canard.   To me, life was good if I was tucking into a plateful of crispy-skinned duck leg, with its succulent meat, accompanied by some sauteed potatoes, and maybe some braised red cabbage or a simple green salad.  A piece of duck confit might also show up in a dish of cassoulet, though I was more like to have that Stateside at a French restaurant, and never tried it in Paris until this year.

The duck confit was never fancy, nor should it be.   This is a simple food stuff, as glorious and flavourful as it is, using meat that has been preserved using ancient preservation techniques.   Essentially it is duck legs that have been slowly cooked preserved in rendered duck fat - once the meat has cooked in a dutch oven or similar vessel you can store the whole legs in a large jar that has been filled to the brim with the duck fat, which will then solidify and preserve the meat.   I've been threatening to actually make my own from scratch for years, though have yet to get around to it.   My sister made it very successfully last year at her house, and I know it is just something you need to get around to and invest the time in.   To serve you simply take a leg of duck, and scrape as much fat off as you can before grilling, broiling, or pan frying, until it is heated through and the skin gets nice and crispy.

Two years ago I had a fanastic meal at Chez Robert & Louise, that favourite haunt of Tony Bourdain groupies and many a Parisian.   Dinner that night was six escargots followed by a plate of duck confit and the restaurants excellent sauteed potatoes.   I posted a fairly glowing review afterwards on Chowhound, and sent my sister and her husband there a few months later, and was eagerly looking forward to when I might get to visit again.  

Minetta Tavern

Last night we went to the widely anticipated Minetta Tavern, on MacDougal Street, pretty close to our apartment in Greenwich Village, to celebrate Tamara's new job.  The place was bought about a year ago by restaurateur Keith McNally, of Balthazar and Pastis fame, and turned into a bistro with most of the original decor - tin ceiling, tiled floor, framed caricatures on the walls, etc. - either left intact or carefully restored or replaced.

I'd never eaten at the original, which used to have a little press clipping in the window saying it was Matthew Broderick's favourite restaurant, though I did pop in for a cocktail a couple of times shortly before it closed.   The new menu is largely French with some Spanish influences.   When we arrived we stood at the bar and had a couple of house cocktails - a "Josephine" which was gin, apricot liquor, and elderflower liqour-based, garnished with a liqour-infused dried apricot, and a "Ginger on the Rocks" (I think that's the name, I'll update later if not) which was bourbon, absinthe, muddled limes, and ginger ale.  Both were good, the latter especially well-balanced.

We started out with the Roasted Bone Marrow, served with toasted baguette soldiers and onion confit.   It was nice, but even though we shared it it proved to be a little too rich as a set-up for our meal.  Another problem is that the fat in bone marrow can congeal quite quickly, and the way the bone is cut - lengthways instead of the more common cross cut - meant this happened before we'd finished it.  The bread service was good, the butter especially delicious, and served at a good spreadable room temperature. 

For main course Tamara had the Trout Meuniere which came with crabmeat and brioche croutons, and I had the Poulet Fermier Roti - I'm a sucker for roast chicken, and will always try it in this kind of place.  It proved to be a winner, and it came served with mashed potato and spinach.   We got a side of Pommes Anna, which were actually the highlight of the night for me - beautifully cooked in duck fat, tender and wonderfully crisp on top, with a light sprinkling of fresh thyme and sea salt to serve, and presented in a small cast iron casserole.  I'd go back to the bar and order a drink and a dish of those any evening!

We washed everything down with a bottle of Cotes de Jura, a 2005 I think.   It was light and dry, and complemented our dishes quite well.    We finished up with Pots de Creme, which came as a trio of coffee, vanilla, and chocolate cremes. 

Service was very good, from the front of house, through to the bartender, the waiter, and the busboys.   We initially showed up on spec at 6:00 to see if they'd take us, but it was full - not too much surprise there, the place just opened the night before.  We snagged a 9:30 reservation, and when we got back a few hours later they remembered us by name without even going to the book, which was nice.   I'd like to make this my neighbourhood place, though right now it is going to be really hard to get into.  I do want to try one of their two burgers soon (they have a classic and a deluxe type burger), as well as the pig's trotter.   I also spotted Beamish stout on the bar menu, which I'd have tried except we were celebrating and a cocktail seemed more festive.