Eating in NYC

Julie at Kitchenography and I went to NYC on Saturday on the BOLT bus... She paid $1.00 each way. I paid 10 times that amount, which is still cheap. The first and last thing we did was to eat. However, our meals were at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Lunch was at Jing Fong, a HUGE dim sum joint on Elizabeth and Canal Streets. We took a looooong escalator up to the massive second floor where we were escorted to a table with some Austrian tourists. The wait staff pushed carts of food around and stopped at the table to see whether you were interested in what was on offer. We got several types of dumplings, pork buns and some clams. Julie had heard something about soft shell crabs, but we never did see any. One of the more intriguing things we saw was a women pushing a cart with an enormous barrel on it, serving some sort of custard-type dessert.

After lunch, we wandered along Canal Street, looking for something special for me, but seeing lots and lots of bunches of lychees, lots of cherries and a monster-sized jack fruit. We headed into Kam Man, one of the first Chinese grocery stores in the UK. It's got everything from soup to nuts and even dinnerware. We were enamored with some dishes with tiny figurines poking their heads over the edges, but at $15 each, we declined.

Next we headed down Canal Street to Broadway to Pearl River Mart. I am not going to write about this here, but I will post on my design blog in a day or two.

We popped into Gourmet Garage to see if there was something to picnic on, but we really weren't in the mood for that. We did see some gorgeous produce though!

As we strolled through Soho, looking at menus posted in windows, we picked a small corner bistro called Lusso. Boy did we luck out! It was the perfect place to sit and have a quick, but excellent meal before heading back to Baltimore. The menu was brief but innovative. Our waiter was friendly and helpful. Louis Santos, the chef, was charming. And best of all, the Belmont Stakes was on the TV, so we got to watch the New York race in NYC!

Julie started with scallops in a truffle-artichoke puree with artichoke chips. If you know Julie, you know she loves artichokes more than anything!!! I had grilled bread with chicken liver pate, which was smooth as silk and about the best I'd ever eaten - even beating Neapol! How lucky is it that Lusso's website had a picture of our two appetizers that looks way better than mine? Do you know how hard it is to take a good picture of chicken liver pate?

We shared a bowl of lemon risotto, parsley and marscapone cheese, which again, was excellent. The lemon really cut the richness of the cheese and risotto.

The taxi gods were smiling on us and we walked right out of Lusso and into a cab!