Keens Steakhouse

Perhaps there are three ways in which you are familiar with mutton:

1. As chops on hipster faces.
2. In the phrase "mutton dressed as lamb." (See, your 55-year-old neighbor with the impressive collection of thigh-high boots).
3. As the only thing greater than true love according to Miracle Max.

For those who have been to Keens Steakhouse, mutton (basically the teenager of the lamb/sheep world) is perhaps that much more familiar to you. Though the restaurant stopped selling it some time ago, it is still listed on the menu, and they will serve you something close enough for your $45 (lamb aged approximately ten months).

However, mutton is only one notable element of the storied chophouse. The history begins in London with the Lambs Club, a famous theater and literary group. Its New York branch manager was Albert Keen, a theatrical producer who opened Keens in 1885. It was equipped with a pipe room, in which men would smoke thin-stemmed clay pipes, and the Pipe Club roster reportedly contained over ninety thousand names, including Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, and Teddy Roosevelt. The club was for men only, until 1905 when actress (and reported inamorata of King Edward VII), Lillie Langtry, took Keens to court, won, swanned into the restaurant wearing a feather boa, and ordered the mutton - as any twentieth century actress dating the married King of England would.

Today, Keens still has the feel of an old gentleman's club given the rich wood throughout its rooms, leather-cushioned chairs at white linen-topped tables, framed faded portraits, and the occasional bust and moose head. Also, since Keens owns the world's largest collection of churchwarden pipes, thousands are hooked to the ceilings throughout the restaurant.

And yes, this is a restaurant after all, so what are we eating for unsurprisingly hefty prices? Meat lovers will be pleased to find "dry-aged on premise" USDA prime grade porterhouse, New York sirloin, T-bone, lamb chops, beef short ribs, and eight to twelve ounce portions of filet mignon in addition to the aforementioned mutton chops. Pescatarians will be happy to note the menu includes oysters, Maryland crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, jumbo lump crab cocktail, Dover sole, pan-seared Loch Duart salmon, and two to six pound steamed Maine lobsters. Vegetarians are not to worry either, for Keens serves four types of salad, five preparations of potatoes, and several side dishes from creamed spinach to carrots with brown butter to sauteed escarole to roasted cauliflower and a few other prepared vegetables along the way. You'll want to stay away from the parmesan brussels sprouts, though, unless you're the kind of vegetarian who eats bacon.

So head to Keens for grandpa's birthday, for your not-so-bright son's acceptance to law school (phew), or for a seat at the bar to spy on that one hipster's blind date with your 55-year-old neighbor. If they don't find true love, at least they can enjoy the one thing greater.

Keens - 72 West 36th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues

Bacardi Party

On Sunday, December 12th, I attended an event sponsored by Bacardi rum, and there's no reason why I should keep that information to myself. Well, the glaringly obvious reason is that this is a blog about restaurants, and the event took place at the Angel Orensanz Foundation (a synagogue turned art gallery and event space), but bartenders from around this great city competed for cocktail greatness, and I think that's something we can all get behind...especially you booze hounds.

It was the New York leg of the Legacy of the Cocktail Competition (the first two having been in Dallas and Chicago) in which twenty-three bartenders were required to use seven ingredients to create a new Bacardi Superior Rum based cocktail. The three winners advance to the national finals in Miami, Florida in February, and the best of the best goes on to represent the USA in the global finals in Sitges, Spain in April.

So which hometown kid shall we cheer on to win it all? Our three New York winners and contenders are Brian Matthys of Tribeca's restaurant, Compose, with his "Head in the Clouds," Roberto Fuentevilla of the Lower East Side's tiki-themed bar, Painkiller, with his "El Alcalde Daiquiri," and Tomas Delos Reyes of the Meatpacking District's Boom Boom Room at The Standard Hotel with his "Downtown." Since it wasn't made clear what ingredients comprise these various cocktails (besides rum, of course), you'll have to swing by the bartenders' respective establishments to find out. Sounds like a fun night to me! That is, if you have the time, deep pockets (a dinner at Compose reportedly costs $100 to $150 for a ten-course tasting), and the clout to get in (the Boom Boom Room has seen the likes of Madonna, Jude Law, and Donna Karan, while Compose serves only 10 diners per night with 20 more guests permitted at the bar).

While the competition took place on the main level of the space, press enjoyed a tasting of three rums in the mezzanine. The first was Bacardi Anejo, a mixable rum aged for up to three years and available for approximately $16 per bottle. The second was Bacardi Solera, a single-barrel sipping rum aged in oak casks and available for $20 to $23 per bottle. The third was Bacardi Reserva Limitada, and sorry folks, but this one's not yet available in the US. Aiming for a twelve-year target, this rum is a blend of ten through sixteen year old rums, and it may currently be purchased in Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Bermuda, Aruba, Barbados, and the Bahamas for $100 to $150 duty free.

"Why can't we get it here?!" you scream during the night as you awaken in a cold sweat. The answer is that a lot of aged product does not exist, as the tropical climates in which Bacardi is produced lend to faster evaporation and maturation. With a six to ten percent loss in the first year of aging, you are basically left with an empty barrel twenty years down the line - or so said the Bacardi Brand Master Apprentice conducting the tasting, and I chose to believe him, figuring you do not earn a title like Brand Master (apprentice or not) for spewing lies.

Now that we must wait to see who is the ultimate cocktail competitor in the finals of the Legacy of the Cocktail Competition, we should kick back with mojitos, pina coladas, mai tais, or whatever other rum based drink tickles your fancy. If you book a flight to St Maarten in order to try the Bacardi Reserva Limitada, you should probably know that I prefer a window seat.

Frank Restaurant (and Vera Bar)

Like so many worthwhile restaurants in New York, Frank Restaurant draws crowds willing to wait seemingly endless minutes (sometimes 60 whole ones) for a seat and (if all goes according to plan) a meal. As is the case at petite-yet-popular Tartine, Tomoe, Tia Pol, and even restaurants that don't begin with "T," you can sometimes breeze in and get seated right away. It is wise, however, to brace yourself for a wait, as one is never completely out of the question. Hey, when the food is good, the wine is flowing, the price is moderate, and the vibe is congenial, you sometimes put up with the hassle...or you only go for lunch on holiday weekends when most people are out of town. Options!

Frank Restaurant opened in 1998 with 29 seats and soon expanded to include Vera Bar; a space with a custom bar (at which customers may eat as well as drink), additional small tables, and one large table at the back of the room able to accommodate 20 people. The expansion ultimately resulted in one bustling venue comprised of two rooms and a fenced-in portion of sidewalk out front that can be used for dining as well. Vera Bar is where patrons may feel crammed during peak dining hours, as the stools at the bar back up to the nearby 2-tops against the opposite wall of the slim space, and those waiting for seats stand betwixt the twain. The second room of the restaurant is where we find the open kitchen and small tables whose surfaces are wrapped in what seems to be brightly colored and patterned contact paper - you know, the stuff with which you covered your textbooks back in Junior High (but with more pictured fruit).

Both rooms are snug yet cozy with details like chandeliers, exposed brick, tin kettles on shelves, and mason jars topped with small antique lampshades. Most noteworthy, however, are the decoratively framed chalkboards. Here is where you find the specials of the day, and if you are lucky, those specials will include the luxuriously creamy burrata cheese served over ripe tomatoes. Which brings us to the food in general, which is tasty, hearty, and tasty some more. Frank Restaurant serves the kind of Italian food one might expect to be prepared by an Italian grandmother. Since Frank Prisinzano, the owner, uses recipes in the restaurant perfected by his Italian grandmothers, this makes sense. His paternal grandmother, Elvira (mmhmm, Vera for short), is represented on the menu by way of her lasagna and calves liver, while his maternal grandmother, Carmella, is responsible for "Carmella's slow cooked gravy" on the sausage and meatball hero. Their guidance, combined with Frank's culinary education, result in simple dishes made with quality ingredients - throw in a glass of wine, and it's not a bad day.

So the wine? They're not screwing around here. Over 500 bottles of Italian wine are available (as well as one selection from the Napa Valley - but it's from Italian-American Francis Ford Coppola, so it gets a pass). Some are available by the glass, some by the bottle or half-bottle, and some by consumption. Huhwhat? This means that you may drink however much of the bottle as you would like and then pay only for that which you poured. If you drink half a glass, you pay that small fraction of the bottle's price - if you drink three quarters of the bottle, you pay for three quarters of the bottle. The staff is able to make suggestions according to your tastes, and the "Frank's Choices" list steers you toward some of the best values. All in all, there is a good chance you will not be disappointed; though if you are, the menu (at last check, anyway) said something to the effect of the staff being willing to drink that which you won't.

Go to Frank Restaurant (and Vera Bar) when your out-of-town guest asks to eat where the locals eat, when it's cold outside and you think "Uncle Tony's Gnocchi" is just the kind of stick-to-your-ribs dish to warm you up, or when you are on your way home after the late shift at work and need a filling meal at a late hour (the restaurant is open until midnight on Sunday, until 1am Monday through Thursday, and until 2am Friday and Saturday). Be sure to bring cash, as that is the only form of payment accepted, and feel free to make a reservation if you have 8 to 18 people in your party, as one won't be accepted otherwise. If you don't want to wait for a table and don't want to leave your apartment at all, they will bring the goods to your door if you are within their delivery area - let me know if you intend to do that during peak dining hours, and I just might come over to join you.

Frank Restaurant (and Vera Bar) - 88 2nd Avenue, between East 5th & 6th Streets

Good Earth Winery

When you dine at an Italian trattoria, what might you drink? Si, bella - vino italiano! When eating at a Greek taverna, which wine might be your first choice? Probably one from Athens, Santorini, or Thessaloniki. So what wine do you choose when you go out for Indian cuisine? Uh...something from New Zealand or California, I guess.

So, you may have noticed Indian wines aren't a big thing here in the US of A. Well, allow me to introduce you to the one with which I have some level of familiarity: Reader? Meet Good Earth Winery.  Good Earth Winery? Meet reader. I think you are going to get along just fine.

My friend's father (Hi, friend! Hi, her father!) started this winery a short time ago in the Nashik region of India, which (if the interwebs are to be believed) is sometimes referred to as the "wine capital of India." Its wines were ready for introduction to Mumbai one year ago and have just launched in the US this month. I have, of course, heard about the venture from my (vaguely) aforementioned friend, but her (also vaguely) aforementioned father invited me to a tasting of the first vintage at Tabla last week (Tabla, as you may remember, avid reader, was briefly mentioned in this post a couple weeks back). I was honored to attend, and I have news to report: it's good stuff! Would have made for some awkward interactions with said friend afterward if it wasn't, huh?

Three wines were available from the 2008 vintage: Basso and Brio (two reds from the Concerto collection) as well as Aarohi (a white wine from the Raga collection). Now it's time for a breakdown (like the girls at 3:04). Basso is made with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and aged in oak barrels; Brio is made from Shiraz and also aged in oak barrels; Aarohi uses Sauvignon Blanc grapes and ferments in stainless steel.

I am by no means a wine critic, sommelier, steward, or snob, but I can say with the utmost certainty that these were great. Getting paired with delicious offerings from Chef Floyd Cardoz didn't hurt their case either. (Oxtail ragu over mashed potatoes, mushrooms on polenta, and hamachi tartare? Yes, yes, and well, I was allergic to an ingredient in that last one, but it looked tasty too). When it comes to wine, I am predominantly a drinker of dry whites. I ultimately found the medium bodied Aarohi to be grassy and interesting in a good way. I'm looking forward to trying it again with seafood, as Good Earth Winery recommends enjoying a chilled glass with salads, prawns, and fish. Considering how infrequently I opt for red, I am happy to report I thoroughly enjoyed the medium bodied Brio and bolder Basso. Both had a hint of smokiness, but the Brio was a little spicy, while the Basso was more complex (encompassing pepper, fruit, and an overall smoothness). Surprisingly (to me alone), the Basso may have been my favorite of the night.

When it comes down to it, you don't have to eat food and drink wine from the same country during a meal, and, let's be honest, you don't have to pair wine with anything at all - an evening at home with some bottles and buddies works just as nicely. However, if you are itching to try Indian wine, it is nice to know that you may soon have the opportunity to do so at a restaurant near you. Selections from Good Earth Winery are also now available at several wine shops throughout Manhattan. Rumor has it they may sell for less than $20 a bottle, so whether you drink it with Indian, Austrian, Moroccan, or Swedish food, it is a sound choice all around.

Levain Bakery

In a city not hurting for bakeries, it sometimes takes a gimmick to get noticed (see Crumbs' enormous cupcakes or Magnolia's old-fashioned vibe - though don't get me wrong, I ain't mad at those joints either). However, Levain Bakery doesn't offer tricks so much as unique options, and those options are damn good. Ok, so they have cookies the size of softballs, but I promise there is more to this place than that.

In 1994, while Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald were training for an Ironman triathlon, they determined a good way to curb their constant hunger was with gigantic cookies. The women opened Levain on the Upper West Side in 1995 and have been selling six-ounce mounds of awesome ever since. The cookie exteriors are crispy, while the interiors are soft, and when eaten straight from the oven, they are a pleasantly gooey mess. The four varieties include walnut chocolate chip, dark chocolate chocolate chip, dark chocolate peanut butter chip, and oatmeal raisin. They cost $4 each at last check, and all were buttery enough to grease through the bag in which they were sold.

Maybe cookies aren't your style though (weirdo), so there are other reasons to swing by. The bomboloncini (not to be confused with the Gipsy Kings' breakout hit Bamboleo) are certainly worth a trip. They are essentially jelly donuts but are baked instead of fried and filled with tangy raspberry jam instead of miscellaneous red gel. Dusted with powdered sugar, the bomboloncini are a stellar combination of sweet, sour, and delicious.

Other baked selections include scones, olive herb semolina, ciabatta, cinnamon brioche, Valrhona stuffed sourdough, pizza-esque breads topped with the likes of artichoke and gruyere, blueberry muffins, and sour cream coffee cake. Levain cinnamon buns (served only in the morning) have been featured on Oprah, and former NYTimes restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, has waxed poetic on their baguettes with butter and jam (also typically a morning treat). The aforementioned cookies have been featured on various television programs and even won a Throwdown on the Food Network against Bobby Flay. Bottom line, you won't be disappointed - unless you order coffee, and they sell you lukewarm swill, which happened to me once, as these things sometimes do.

Levain Bakery is located on West 74th Street off the corner of Amsterdam Avenue. It is a tiny space down a few steps from the sidewalk, and there is little room in which to maneuver before hitting the display case. The ultimate goal is to reach this case to place your order, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. Behind the counter, you see the bakery in motion, as trays of cookies and other goodies are pulled from the oven before thine eyes. You may choose to revel in the appetizing aromas by eating on a stool by the counter below the window, but odds are you'll want to get the hell out of every other customer's way and eat elsewhere in peace. There's a bench outside if you can't wait long to find that peace...and by "find that peace" I mean "eat your cookie."

Stop by Levain for lunch when you have a hankering for something savory (hi, chive and goatcheese sourdough pizza), or swing through when you need to bring something sweet to a party (four cookies can probably sate eight to twelve people), but be sure to go early before they sell out of particular crowd-pleasers (bomboloncini, I'm looking at you). It must be noted Levain's goods are not cheap, but at least you get some pretty sizable, freshly baked bang for your buck (leftovers are donated every evening to charities). There is a second Levain location in Harlem and a third out in East Hampton, though the Hamptons outlet is only open seasonally (usually from July through Labor Day). Here, they sell rustic fruit tarts not available in the city, but I guess everyone's gotta have a gimmick.

Levain Bakery - 167 West 74th Street, between Amsterdam & Columbus Avenues
Levain Bakery - 2167 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at West 117th Street
Levain Bakery (East Hampton) - 354 Montauk Highway, Wainscott, New York

Brunch, Part 3 - Splurge Edition

It is time once again to talk about that cherished New York past time - brunch. (Click here for brunch post numero uno and here for la deuxieme. Also, feel free to be impressed by my foreign language skills in that last sentence). Today's theme is splurging. Now, you can certainly leave the following two restaurants having paid a reasonable amount, but you will most likely walk away thinking, "What did I just do?" The sizable entrees are sufficient to get you through the day, but odds are you won't stop there. Hey, when brunch sirens call, (snacks, baked goods, sides, desserts, and cocktails), nobody blames you for giving in to temptation. Well, maybe some people do, but I would never. [Insert high-five here].

1) Cookshop - 156 10th Avenue, at the corner of West 20th Street

Cookshop feels both industrial and warm. What appears to be a polished cement floor is topped with wood tables sporting white surfaces and straight-backed chairs. This, along with a metal encased light hanging over the bar area, gives the room a modern edge. The cranberry banquettes, wall-mounted chalkboard, and potted plants (not to mention the tree in the center of the room) soften that edge. Then there are the impressive floor-to-ceiling windows that serve as the barrier to both 10th Avenue and West 20th Street - if the coffee doesn't wake you up, all that natural light certainly will.

So what do we have here? Pancakes and egg dishes (Cookshop Scramble, I adore your over sized biscuit, your silken eggs with creme fraiche and caramelized onions, and the option of smoked salmon) will run you $12-$15. However, you might want to start your meal with a snack ($5-$11). Say, deviled eggs or sunchoke soup? But you also like the sound of those baked goods - pecan sticky buns, banana bread, a currant scone. Mayhaps a bakery basket for $12? How about sides ($3-$6)? The white cheddar grits are too good to pass up. Will you have room for dessert ($7-$9)? For a coffee cream donut, you make room. You haven't forgotten about cocktails though, and at this point, what's another $12? After a potent strawberry caipirinha, you probably won't mind at all.

When can you indulge? According to the restaurant's website, brunch is available Saturday and Sunday from 11am until 3pm. Walk-ins are welcome, but you'll be better off making a reservation beforehand. Here's a helpful hint, friends - if you have an opentable account, you can make a reservation mere minutes before heading over (provided they still have room). When you arrive, you'll find patrons waiting for a table at which they could have already been sitting if they had just gone online first. Suckers.

2) Freemans - End of Freeman Alley off Rivington Street, between Bowery & Chrystie Street

First off, Freemans is in a unique location on the Lower East Side. With no real address, you find it by first going to Rivington Street between Bowery and Chrystie Street. When you come to an alley about halfway down the block, turn into it and walk to the end. This will lead you to a country style, wood-and-glass door beneath a web of strung-up lightbulbs. It's hard not to feel like you're in on a secret here, and depending on your mood, it can all feel a little magical. Once inside, however, it's all hipsters and taxidermy - but in a good way.

Sitting next to plaid button-downs and Keds while under stuffed geese and antlers, it's time to get down to business. Main dishes include frittatas and sandwiches, pancakes and waffles, which come in at a reasonable $10-$14. You know you're not going to stop there, though. First off, there are Devils on Horseback ($6) and salad options ($10-11), but I'm personally going to order the hot artichoke dip with crisp bread ($10). It is so good that if it wasn't such a waste, I'd want to rub it all over myself - especially after it cools down. (Awkward pause). Brunch may not be complete without a side of thick-cut bacon ($4) or stone-ground cheddar cheese grits ($5), but what about dessert? Don't mind if I do. I'll order the hot chocolate brownie, while you get the bananas foster with rum butterscotch sauce (both $9). We'll wash it all down with Stumptown coffee, and, sure, let's get finely crafted cocktails. They're $12 unless you go for something straight up off the extensive liquor list. I like to mask my mid-day booze with juice and various accoutrements, but to each his own (and other cliches).

According to their website, Freemans is open for brunch on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from 10am until 4pm. They only accept reservations for parties of six or more, so if you can't wrangle that many reliable dining partners, your best bet is to walk in with a small group and be prepared to wait. Parties will not be seated until all are present, so tell that one friend who's always late an earlier time than need be, or just cut him out of the equation altogether. Sounds harsh, but there's excessive dining to be done, and that artichoke dip waits for no man.

Zampa

Zampa is a glorified wine bar. Don't get me wrong, wine bars are pretty glorious to begin with - what with their romantic ambiances and airs of refinement even as you get completely schnockered - but Zampa takes the idea a step further by offering a somewhat substantial, Italian-based menu. Here, you can still order enough vino (by the glass, half bottle, or full bottle) to make your date question whether or not you have a drinking problem, but you may save enough face to wrangle a second date by soaking up the booze with a full meal. It will probably be touch and go though until you do.

In addition to mere olives, cheese, and charcuterie plates, Zampa offers several varieties of crostini, panini, antipasti, and...(sadly, not rhyming)...entrees. On a given night, the smaller plates may include fennel and baby arugula salad with orange and parmigiano, roasted shrimp with cannellini, or broccoli rabe. Larger dishes might include oven poached salmon, roasted pork loin, or lasagna bolognese. The crostini are pleasantly heavy on the toppings (such as chicken liver and vin santo, white bean and duck proscuitto, or fresh ricotta with roasted peppers), and the panini are satisfying for their $10 price tag. Desserts are available too, and if the chocolate hazelnut cake is there the night you are, you should just go ahead and order that. Unless you have a nut allergy - in which case, buddy, you should know better.

The wines at Zampa are predominantly Italian, though something unexpected might sneak onto the menu every now and then. You may also order beer or seasonal cocktails - both, if you've had a rough day.

Everything may be enjoyed at the bar, which zig-zags on the left of the room toward the kitchen at the back, or at one of the side-by-side tables, which run the length of the room on the right. The bar is equipped with tall chairs, and table-seating is comprised of one long banquette and many Eames bucket seats - appropriately named on account of their shape and their ability to contain water. I learned this the night a dining companion knocked an entire ice-cold glassful into my lap, and the water effectively pooled beneath me. Yes, inquisitive reader, my jeans were indeed equally effective at sopping it up like a sponge.

Perks of Zampa include takeout, catering, special events (groups of 10 or more require a price-fixed menu, though cocktail event and tasting menus are available for larger parties as well), and (if the website is to be believed, since I haven't personally tried this...YET) Zampa will create a picnic basket for you. Say whuuuuh? I know! It includes six antipasti of your choosing, two beverages, assorted biscotti, the basket, and a blanket. The basket and a blanket? The basket and a blanket. Additionally, you may enjoy prosecco and a crostini while the staff pack it all up.

So head in to Zampa (located about a block from dell'anima) when you and your girls need to gripe about your day over a bottle or three of Verdicchio, when you and your boys want to get the night started before invading the Meatpacking District, or when you're walking by and become intrigued by the segmented pig displayed on the window. My Italian is rusty (read, I've never studied Italian), so "zampa" may or may not mean "animal's foot," and this artwork therefore may or may not make sense. Like your date at the beginning of this post, however, I shall remain noncommittal.

Zampa - 306 West 13th Street, between West 4th Street & 8th Avenue