Nice Matin

After a day at the museums or central park, your legs are usually tired and your belly is ready for some FOOD! A great French restaurant on the upper west side to take a break and have a nice meal is Nice Matin just blocks from the Natural History Museum. With the weather warming up, I'll be spending a lot more time in that neighborhood so expect more posts! I recalled a great night I spent here with friends last summer for restaurant week.  It would be a great place for a date night and there are larger tables for groups. It gets a little noisy with all the chatter but its a lively place and I would recommend it for those in the area.

Sweet Corn Risotto

Seared Ahi Tuna Steak and Grape Caper Compote on a bed of Heirloom Tomatoes

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp topped with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

One if by Land, Two if by Sea - Restaurant Week

Behold! Another restaurant week adventure! My goal for this restaurant week season was to go somewhere every week. Though is wasn't properly spaced out, I did get to go to four restaurants that were participating in this winter's restaurant week. Though I was really excited for Cafe Boulud, I have heard so many good things about One if by Land; I was glad to finally have the chance to go.

Many have said that One if by Land is the most romantic restaurant in New York City, I'm not a fan of absolutes but I will say that it was very comfortable and their candlelit tables gave the meal a certain ambiance. The room was mostly tables of two, though there were a few larger tables that came to enjoy restaurant week in a group. Since Sarah and I both had lighter entrees we paired our meal with a great German white wine. Riesling-Kabinett is a dryer version of a typically sweet wine. It was really delicious and went wonderfully with our food. Slam Dunk! 

Prinzsalm Riesling-Kabinett 2007

 Amuse Bouche - Aerated Celery Root Puree topped with Green Apple and Champagne Vinegar Meringue

 Honey-Jalapeno Butter & Roasted Red Pepper Butter for bread

Roasted Bartlett Pear with Maytag Blue Cheese, Endive & ‘Trail Mix’

 Chestnut Tagliatelle with Venison Ragout & Pecorino Ginepro

 Hake in Japanese Pine Broth, Shitake Mushrooms, Ginger Sticky Rice & a (perfectly) Steamed Egg

 Beech Mushroom Risotto with Castelmagno, Superfino Carnarolli & Chervil Oil

 Maple Ice Cream Sundae with Caramel Popcorn, Bacon-Infused Chocolate Sauce & Candied Bacon

 Complimentary Petits Fours at the end of our meal

Normally a meal at this restaurant would run you $80 dollars and though the restaurant week menu is more limited than the normal prix-fixe menu, the options were still delicious and I was completely satisfied (if not stuffed) by the end of dinner.

Cafe Boulud - Restaurant Week

Restaurant Week in NYC is coming to an end this week and I've taken the opportunity to try a few of New York's restaurants at a severely discounted price. Lunch is only $24.07 and Dinner $35. Restaurant week is a great opportunity for people to enjoy great food, restaurants, and renowned chefs at an affordable price. I can think of many meals where I paid much more than the prix-fixe prices which proved incomparable to the elegant delicious food off the restaurant week menus at New York's finest restaurants.





One hot ticket for restaurant week is Cafe Boulud who only partakes in lunch service for restaurant week; their dinner menu remains the same. I have tried getting a reservation for their restaurant week menu since last year and this year was lucky enough to stumble onto a cancelled reservation. With 24 hours of notice, I recruited my friend Niko to play hooky and take an extended lunch hour to try this french restaurant owned by distinguished chef Daniel Boulud in the Upper East Side.

 Amuse Bouche - Truffle Oil Arancini Stuffed with Fontina Cheese
 

 Appetizer - Duck Terrine with Frisee, Onion and Cranberry

 Dessert - Rum Raisin Bavariose with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

 Complimentary Madeleine Cookies at the end of the meal

From their famous end-of-the-meal Madeleine cookies to the arancini amuse bouche it was a fantastic meal start to finish. The server even told us that customers have come back to the restaurant specifically for the Madeleines and ask if they can pay to have them at the beginning of the meal as well as the end. And as someone who does not particularly enjoy sweets, I have to say they were pretty good. Subtle lemon flavors in the fresh-out-of-the-oven warm cookies with powdered sugar dusted on top for the perfect amount of sweetness. In addition to their fantastic $24.07 three course prix-fixe menu, Cafe Boulud also has a special $24 bottle of wine (white and red option) to accompany their restaurant week menu. The cherry on top!

Note*: I had the blackened flounder over creamy polenta and braised collard greens for my entree. However, I was overly excited when it came out and forgot to snap a picture of it; but believe me, it was delicious.