It’s been a while since my last post — I got frustrated by my crappy camera (the batteries pop out whenever I touch it), and I usually don’t like to post entries without pretty pictures of food However, I have finally gotten around to buying a new one, which should hopefully come in time for me to complete this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge. I skipped the last two months (the Opera Cake and Danish Braid), in part because they were pretty work-intensive and I’ve been out of town a lot, and in part because of the camera situation.

Anyway, here are some of the final photos of my food that I took with the old camera:

Roasted root vegetables (before roasting); southern biscuits; strawberry rhubarb pie; strawberry rhubarb loaf (using this recipe as a basis)

Clearly I haven’t been cooking much, but I’ve still been eating well! At the request of my mother, I’ve decided to sit down and write about some of the excellent/famous restaurants I’ve been to in the last month or two. These include: The French Laundry (Yountville, CA), Silks (San Francisco), and several NYC eateries I visited during my trip there a few weeks ago, including Telepan, Benoit, The River Cafe, The Gramercy Park Tavern, Gordon Ramsay, Veritas, The Gotham Bar & Grill, CraftBar, and the Carnegie Deli. I’ll make this relatively short and sweet, rather than a detailed account of the entire menu.

Here we go (in no particular order):

1. French Laundry ~ overall, definitely the best meal I’ve ever had. We went there for lunch — we arrived at 11am, and left around 3:30pm. Here’s the short version of the menu I got (they give you a copy to take home):

Cornet with salmon tartare — famous amuse-bouche, for good reason

Eggshell filled with truffled egg custard — this was one of my favs, very decadent

Cauliflower “Panna Cotta” with Caviar — gotta love that caviar

Salad of White Asparagus and Brooks Cherries — a lot of the produce is from their garden across the street

Citrus-cured Pacific Kahala — like ceviche, very nice

Sweet Butter-poached Maine Lobster Tail — probably the best lobster I’ve ever had

All Day-braised Kurobuta Pork Belly — This was my favorite course – amazing!

Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Ribeye — This was good, but I have to say the other option, the $100 supplement Kobe beef, was better (I got to try some — it may have been even better than the pork belly)

“Gabietou” (I forget what this was — I may have actually had a substitute because I’m allergic to nuts)

Diane St. Claire Buttermilk Sherbet – refreshing palate cleanser

“Coffee and donuts” – lives up to the hype!

Coffee “Cremeux” — pretty good, but the coffee and donuts were better

“Mignardises” (bon-bons) – I was so full by this point, but I still had some!

p.s. the 1970 Bordeaux Greg’s brother brought didn’t hurt either

2. Silks ~ This restaurant is in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in SF. We did the tasting menu, and it was great — some asian influences, but not overwhelming. A memorable course after the dessert was called “chocolate and beer.” It was a very sweet hot chocolate served with a shot of dark beer. You alternate sipping each, and they balance each other really nicely. I’d definitely come back here.

3. Telepan (NYC) ~ We did brunch here, and it was great, especially the house-smoked trout. However, they did forget to bring the syrup for my “fallen pancakes souffle”, so I probably could have enjoyed it more…

4. Benoit (NYC) ~ Alain Ducasse’s French bistro has a great atmosphere, but the food was only ok. I had some pretty good lobster ravioli (not really bistro fare…but was I going to order the cassoulet in June when the temp outside was in the 90s?). However, Greg’s salmon was had a distinct fishy smell. My dining companions said the charcuterie plate was great–I’m not a huge fan. Oh, but the tarte tatin was GREAT!

5. The River Cafe (Brooklyn) ~ We did Sunday brunch here. It has a great view of the river/bridge/city, and the food was delicious. I recommend the lobster omelette, as well as the smoked salmon.

6. The Gramercy Park Tavern (NYC) ~ Did the lunch tasting menu — really nice, though it probably would have been even better for dinner. The pork belly here wasn’t quite as good as French Laundry…(sigh, I’m so jaded )

7. Gordon Ramsay (NYC) ~ One of my favorite restaurants we went to in NYC. The tasting menu was great all the way through, from the seafood cassoulet to the amazing filet/short rib entree, to the chocolate cremeux with salted caramel ice cream. The tarte tatin here is also out of this world (I got to try some) — possibly better than Benoit. Apparently all that yelling really does work!

8. Veritas (NYC) ~ Ties with GR as one of my favorite restaurants. Of course the wine was awesome (how could it not be with a list like that?), but so was the braised short rib and the warm chocolate souffle. I highly recommend it.

9. Gotham Bar and Grill ~ We did lunch here toward the end of the trip, and while the food was great (Tom Collichio used to be a chef here I think…I also think he’s still the co-owner), the experience was a bit marred by a) our fatigue from eating nice meals all week, and b) the waiter who insisted the fly in Greg’s wine was “just sediment” (though he eventually gave us a new bottle). My pasta with braised pork (? I think..I forget the meat) was a particular standout…despite the fact that I forgot the meat

10. CraftBar ~ This is the somewhat more casual version of Tom Collichio’s Craft. Though the wine we had (which was recommended by the waiter) was quite bad, the food was delicious. Despite my eating fatigue, I finished off my pork leg/fava bean/morel dish with no problem!

11. The Carnegie Deli ~ I just included this so I could show Greg with his giant pastrami/corned beef sandwich, “The Woody Allen” (sorry it’s grainy–I used my cell phone camera):

Phew, that’s all for now. Perhaps soon I’ll blog about my upcoming visits to Rivoli and Slanted Door, my ill-fated attempt to cook rabbit last weekend, and/or the July Daring Bakers challenge…