Friday Night Eats: Gigi's

    My inner circle of friends and I have made it somewhat of a tradition here at school to go out to dinner once a week at a new place in the greater Hudson Valley region. Usually its on a Friday night since we are older/have been to college/fought in a war (Seth, hats off to you kid) and pregaming in a dorm is not always our highest priority ("DO YOU WANNA DO A SHOT!?!?".....seriously, how old are we?) Don't get me wrong, I love the nightlife. In fact we went out last night to the local bar "Darby's" and had a blast despite the Marist College Rugby semi-formal that was dominating the bar. I am, however, equally content with going out to dinner with friends, dropping a Jay-Z sized dough sack on a great meal (all in the name of research, don't worry mom), laughing and chatting about food and restaurants, then walking back to my dorm with a full fledged food coma. The point I'm trying to make is that I'm glad, blessed even, that I am older and have been to college prior to coming to the CIA because it allows me to take this school seriously. I see so many kids straight outta high school and it dawns on me that THIS is their college experience. Yes, CIA is a college, but its not COLLEGE...so no, I don't wanna go to a Hooka bar with you...sorry BRAH!
    Anywhooselle, the first restaurant in the "Friday Night Lights Eats" series is Gigi's. Listed as Mediterranean, Gigi Trattoria also boasts some serious Italian flair. Quick side note: The restaurant is owned and operated by the ex-wife of Giovanni Scappin--head lunch chef at Caterina de' Medici (our renowned Italian restaurant on campus). Word has it that when they split, she got the restaurant and he opened "Cucina" in Woodstock, NY (looking at the website this looks worth the trip for the series). This is the part where I forget the food and just ramble for days. In my defense, Jackie Chan's "The Drunken Master" is on TV so I am easily distracted. Food and pictures after the jump aka if your a n00b, click "Read More"

Sunday In New York: "This Is The End..."

      Alright I've been blogging for quite some time today/night (cracks knuckles, twists back) but I wanted to share my brunch at Bobby Flay's restaurant: Mesa Grill. Flay was the very first Food Network "personality" I starting watching back in the day. Some will say its something of a "man crush", but they're clearly liars and cannot be trusted. I have one of his cookbooks in my room--Grill It! and just missed an opportunity to have him sign it during a book signing at the Saratoga racetrack...what I had to work! With that being said, I am more of a Tyler Florence fan nowadays, sorry Bobby. Also, Giada de Laurentiis is pretty sexy I might add whoooopsss.
      Flay also has numerous other restaurants, Bar American, Bolo (which just closed), Bobby Flay's Burger Palace, and Mesa grill in Vegas. I chose Mesa Grill because it was his first place, and I hear good things. My mom and I went there for brunch because we had a Knicks game to attend later that night; am I living the weekend dream or WHAT?? Side note: the Knickerbockers got blown out by the Danny Granger-less Pacers. If your not a basketball fan, THATS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! Even though they got dominated, my good friend Jon Gibbs would have killed a man (he's harmless, and an RA) to be at the game because hes absolutely obsessed with the Knicks, especially Landry Fields. Back at Mesa Grill (you still with me?) this is what I ordered for brunch, word-for-word from the menu:
   
Cornmeal Crusted Chile Relleno filled with roasted eggplant & manchego cheese with sweet red pepper sauce & balsamic vinegar

      The dish was aesthetically pleasing to the max, I mean just look at that thing! It should be put in the Museum of Modern Art...which I actually went to right before this, but for me as I dug in, it didn't taste as good as it looked. It was prepared fine, it just didn't go as well as I thought a "first meal at a Bobby Flay restaurant" would go. It wasn't bad, just ordinary? In the end, it was brunch, which is a totally different menu from the dinner menu. Maybe I'll go back one day for dinner and give it another whirl. You have not failed me yet Bobby!
      What Mesa Grill and Kraft Bar had in common I noticed, was the waitstaff. Both our waitresse...er..servers (sorry Bre) were awesome. They didn't put on that fake front, desperate to sell you something and push drinks on you like a used car salesman would old cars. No, it was refreshing to have a cool, attentive server who could give detail about a dish rather than the usual, "Oh I had that for lunch yesterday, its by far my favorite!" (liar). But if your looking for the best server and you happen to be in beautiful Saratoga Springs, NY then venture on over to Pizzeria Uno's and ask for Bre Lee to be your server; but make sure you say 'Bre', if you say 'Breanne' then your already dead...And that concludes my New York City getaway, happy eating people!!

Friday In New York

      My mom and I arrived in the afternoon and began our epic journey throughout the city at some Irish pub. It was a nice day to start, but the food wasn't anything worth writing home about...That last sentence seems odd because no one has crafted a handwritten letter since the Peloponnesian War. My last handwritten letter was done in red crayola crayon, addressed to the president (Clinton at the time) calling for peace throughout the world...Mr. Clinton if you ever read this blog, you owe me a response buddy! So I guess the updated version would have to be: "it wasn't anything worth tweeting about"? I don't know about that one...

      Oh yeah this is a food blog, right. Well Friday night before a show, my mom and I met her old friend Dottie (she's getting married in the fall, congrats Dottie!) at Tom Colicchio's restaurant, Kraft Bar--a tasty and expensive but less formal version of his regular Kraft restaurant. The dim lighting (but not cave dark), casual atmosphere and cool/attentive waitstaff perfectly complemented the exceptional food. I can't even imagine what the food at the actual Kraft restaurant tastes like. Maybe one day Mr. Colicchio will be dining at my restaurant? ("In your dreams kid!" should be your response, but don't worry I'll prove you wrong.) I had oysters to start (not on my bill), before my arctic char w/ celery root, beet, horseradish, and dill.The fish was cooked to perfection, nice and flakey and fell apart when I cut into it with a fork (yeah a knife isn't needed here, and that is a good thing). I remember the first bite just melting in my mouth before I mixed it in with the beet, and horseradish. While I am on the subject, I usually despise beets (don't we all), but god damn it was superb in this dish! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE! That's from Dumb & Dumber if you didn't realize. Colicchio, you sly dog you...

Before

                                                                                  

Aftermath!

I Ate Food In DC

      Whats up world? My roommate Hucke and I made it back alive from our epic DC journey (thank you ladies) and naturally I had some good eats over the weekend. Friday night my friend Jess (the girl I visited) and some of her roommates took me to The Tombs--a restaurant by day, bar by night where I ordered butternut squash ravioli in cream sauce with caramelized onions, walnuts and cranberries.The meal was exceptional and the place was convenient b/c we ended up going back for the bar scene (I dropped a hundo that night, your welcome Tombs, sorry Mom). Saturday night the girls and I made various kinds of pizza and chowed down before another night of...entertainment. Side note: if you get the chance to cook food with 6 gorgeous girls YOU TAKE IT!
      Overall I had a blast of a weekend. 75 and sunny when we arrived, and a brilliantly blue sky on Saturday. I think its safe to say Hucke and I left our mark on the city of DC (he fell down a flight of stairs) "I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me." I added that quote from The Departed b/c we showed DC how its done! Ladies, if you ever read this, thank you for the great time and the hospitality. Don't ever change.

I've been obsessed with squash lately for some reason

Massive lentil and wheat-berry "sandwich"

      At around noon today, I finally mustered up the courage to get out of bed and see who was still alive from last night. Making my way down to the living room I hear some of my roommates laughing and trying to recap the night. Then I hear one of the greatest sentences ever said by man: "anyone wanna go to Amy's Place?"
      We park and surprisingly the wait isn't that long (usually people are waiting outside for a table) so we sit down on stools, look over the diverse menu an wait for a table to open up. The menu begins with regular breakfast items, which can be ordered anytime of day, but as you continue reading, the menu gravitates towards hearty Mediterranean cuisine and delicate vegetarian/vegan dishes. In other words, this isn't your ordinary diner. Distracted by the unique paintings from local artists and the wide array of customers (hipsters, artsy-types, 2 old women still in their cross country gear, and the like) I briefly forget that I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT! Upon a quick skim of the menu I see the lentil and wheat-berry sandwich with, "what were famous for" embedded in the description; so I go for it. Fully expecting it to be a small vegetarian dish on a pita or something, I go for the full sandwich instead of the half. Boyyyy was I mistaken b/c what arrived was something that made Moe's burritos look like appetizers. I mean christ, this thing was HUGE I didn't even know how to attack it. I kept feeling like I was in the scene from Independence Day where the they fire missiles (EAGLE ONE! FOX TWO!) at the alien mother ship for the first time and they are absorbed by the massive force-field. The president looking at the footage from a television screen yelling, "GET THEM THE HELL OUTTA THERE!!" moments before the ship opens the bay doors and fires upon the army helicopters. This sandwich/burrito WAS the alien mother ship and I had to consume it for the greater good of humanity...

Thats me after I finished off this monster..."WELCOME TO EARFF!"

Two lg flour tortillas stuffed with chopped tomatoes, artichoke hearts, wheat-berries, lentils, lettuce, provolone cheese and a whole bunch of other anonymous ingredients. I could only manage to take down half and boxed the rest up to be consumed, well, five minutes ago. It was completely vegetarian, but it still completely kicked my ass.