Restaurant Week 2009: Butter

Thanks to my friend Helen for organizing a get together with my Stony buds to a restaurant week dinner. I've been wanting to try Butter because of Alexandra Guarnaschelli, the executive chef of the restaurant. I was hoping I would get to meet her but it didn't happen. I always see her on Food Network shows like Iron Chef, Chopped and Food Network Challenges mostly as the judge but sometimes as the competitor. As a judge, I think she is great at describing the food, some of her comments can be thoughtful and constructive but sometimes I think she can be harsh with her comments. I guess being a well renown chef with all the experiences you have the right to be opinionated about your food.

All hype aside, the first impression I had walking into the restaurant was a good one. There are two floors, we were escorted to the bottom floor. I felt like I was walking into a forest at night. It was dark with candles glowing and branches on the walls. It was nice, pretty and somewhat romantic. We were seating at the round booth, it was kinda hard getting 8 people around this table because it was really cramped.

The menu was okay, nothing really that spectacular...

Butter serving butter...

Complementary corn and regular bread: I thought they were both hard and stale.

Appetizer #1: Sauteed Squid with Garlic Breadcrumbs, grilled zucchini, pesto and lemon. The whole dish was very flavorful, lots of pesto taste. There wasn't much squid but some of it was a little crispy. Some of the breadcrumbs soaked up the sauce so it was soggy but it seems meaty so I probably thought they were squid.

Appetizer #2: Butter Homemade Charcuterie Plate: Homemade salami, duck mortadela, chicken liver on toast with aged balsamic and salad of local greens. I couldn't tell the difference between homemade salami and store brought salami. I wasn't too fond of these ingredients and I thought everything on the plate was just too salty for my taste.

Appetizer #3: Soup of the day: Mushroom soup (probably had a fancier name for it but I don't know it!) I didn't try this but the eater said it was okay...

Entree #1: Blackened Salmon with summer pea and baby ragout with fresh mint. I love the presentation. I had a bite of this and thought it was tasty and good.

Entree #2: Crispy duck confit with lentils, crispy onions, chestnut honey gastrique. This was my dish, I thought the whole dish was very heavy and salty. It was only okay...

Entree #3: Braised Beef Short Ribs with green peppercorn, baby carrots and texas tarragon. I was totally disappointed at this dish. There was alot of sauce on it but it was bland inside. I felt that it should've been braised longer to get more flavor inside the meat.

Desserts #1: Raspberry Beignets with dipping vanilla sauce. I actually like this dessert, The beignet was warm and soft, it was so good with the warm vanilla sauce. But according to Andy, it tasted like crispy cream with warm vanilla dipping sauce.

Desserts #2: Assorted cheese and fruit plate. I didn't get to try any, but it looks pretty!

Desserts #3: Lemon sorbet. According to the eater, nothing special...does it remind you of something =X

Desserts #4: Dark chocolate sour cream cake with homemade milk jam and vanilla ice cream. This was mine, I was totally disappointed. It was rich and somewhat moist but it just taste like very good brownies to me, nothing special...

Would I come here again umm....I'm not sure, probably not. The food was just okay and with their prices I can get more and better food else where. I gotta say Butter need to work on that restaurant week menu if you want impress people and make them want to come back again. My friend said she went there a few times and each time she was disappointed at the menu....

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Butter
415 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 253-282
Menu and other reviews from menupages.com

Restaurant Week 2009: Lure

My thoughts on restaurant weeks:

Each year when restaurant week arrives, I never really cared to go. It may seem weird for a foodie not to care but from past experience some of the places I went to are a hit or miss. I think it may not be the restaurant itself but because of their menus that they offered during restaurant week. Things on the restaurant week menu doesn't seem that great compared to the regular menu. Sometimes I would rather pay the price for something I want then be restricted to order from a certain list.

Back to my Lure experience...
I met up with my cousin Angela for my first restaurant week of 2009. I let her pick the restaurant and I'm so glad she chose Lure. This is the first time I was impressed with the restaurant week menu. I loved the decor of the place because it was like I'm eating on a boat...
We made the reservations for 7pm. I got out of work a little after 6:30 and walked there, it took me around 10 mins. I got there and she was already at the bar! We took advantage of the happy hour which was about to end at 7pm. The happy hour menu looked great, raw bar for $1 per piece and $6 cocktail drinks. I must come here another time....

I've been so stressed out lately I drank one Lychee Bellini right away and took another drink with me to the table. The price would've been more expensive if we ordered them at our table so I'm happy we saved money on the drinks!

Complimentary bread:

Appetizer #1: Raw Bar Tasting:
East and West Coast oysters, shrimp cocktail, littleneck clams
I never liked raw oysters or clams. The last time I tried to eat them was a disaster. I almost threw up and had to spit it out but this time I absolutely loved them! The main reason why this time the whole experience was different is because they were fresh and had no fishy taste. The texture of the oyster and clams were creamy when you bite into it and taste was sweet with a hit of cocktail sauce and lemon. It was awesome! Recently I've been craving them alot, I guess I have to plan a happy hour outing....
Appetizer #2: Crispy shrimp tempura
This dish I was not impressed at all, it tasted like those shrimp balls from dim sum house served with mayo. The only thing I liked about this dish is the sauce which a spicy mayo.
Appetizer #3: Soft shell crab (from the regular menu)
I loved the whole dish! The presentation and taste was great! The soft shell crab was meaty and crispy outside. It is served with a mixed blend of fruit on the bottom with a light mango or some sort of fruity sauce. Soo good....

Entree #1: Grilled Salmon
with spatzel, peas, smoked onions and herb vinaigrette
The salmon was a little pink inside the way I like it. I liked the spatzel, peas and onions mixture. The sauce was very light and delicious!

Entree #2: Seared Yellowfin Tuna:
Nori Crusted, shittake, edamame, and dashi glazed
Another great dish!

Dessert #1: Warm Chocolate Cake:
Salted Caramel Ice cream and popcorn brittle
Omg, I was in heaven...it was so moist and choclate oozed out from the middle. The combination of the chocolate cake and ice cream was soo goooddddddd....

Dessert #2: Coconut Tapioca with tropical sorbet
This was yummi but tasted like the Chinese tapioca tong sui but with passion fruit sorbet.

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Lure
142 Mercer St
New York, NY 10012-3806
(212) 431-7676
Menu and other reviews can be found at menupages.com

Fontana Sushi: Where's my boat?

Fontana Sushi has been around in Bay Ridge for a long time but this was my first time trying it out. My brother suggested that we take our dad for father's day. My father doesn't like sushi or raw food but he went with the flow but I think we converted him to a sushi lover! This place is a nice, clean restaurant with booths and privates rooms available for parties. The prices are average, some specialty rolls are a little more expensive then some of the places I usually go. Most people are attracted by their all-you-can-eat special which is a decent price ($21.95/pp) but there are regulations and no sashimi (thinly sliced raw pieces of fish without the rice)! booo....

The menu has English and Chinese. It's obviously owned by Chinese owner...

All-You-Can-Eat special:

We didn't order the all-you-can because I don't think we can eat that much sushi anyway and I rather eat sashimi. So we order special with 20 piece sushi, 36 piece sashimi and any 3 rolls from the regular/specialty selection. As advertised on their menu this special was suppose to be presented on a big wooden boat. The amount of food on this boat is good for 4-5 people. Please note you must pick 3 different rolls. We wanted two spider rolls but they didn't allow it, which I thought was stupid. I really love all their rules and regulations....

The special came with miso soup and salad for everyone: Our lovely "boat" of sushi and sashimi...even though everything looked amazingly great but since it wasn't on a boat kind of sucked. We wanted to impress our parents with the presentation but that didn't happen... If you advertised the special on your menu with pictures of a beautiful boat of sushi then you should give your customer what they see on the menu. ($75)Okay...I'll stop complaining so much about the stupid boat. All the fish was GREAT! Everything was nicely chilled and very fresh.

We also ordered the beef teriyaki ($13): the beef was cooked medium rare, very tender. The sauce was nice and sweet. The broccoli could have used some more cooking because it was kind of hard. The amount of beef they gave us was very little, look like they cut a steak in 1/2 and tried to spread it out on the plate.

The 4 of us ate everything....

I'm not sure if I would come here again because the food wasn't all that great except for the seafood being very fresh. I kind of have a love hate relationship with them already...
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Fontana Sushi
9608 3rd Ave
Brooklyn, New York 11209
(718) 759-1100‎
You can find their menu at menupages.com