Anniversary Mrs. Robot was somehow talked into marrying me and made it official six years ago this past Saturday. Sucka!
Three days of awesome. Food wise.
Thursday Tabla My brother came to town this past weekend, so we decided to go out before he got here for some sort of formal anniversary dinner. Mrs. Robot chose Tabla. It's a classy joint right on Madison Square Park. Their cuisine is some sort of indian/fusion thing, which to me translates into "hell yes".
We had the chef's summer tasting menu with a wine pairing for each course. I don't want to speak for Mrs. Robot, but I had a hard time getting up from the table and waddling/weaving out of the restaurant from the amount of food and wine. It was kick-ass. Luckily they have the menu online because all I can remember is a hazy "hey, this lobster has bacon wrapped around it".
Nova Scotia Lobster Smoked Bacon, Watermelon & Meyer Lemon (Chardonnay, Babich Unwooded (Hawke's Bay, New Zealand) 2004)
Braised Black Bass South Indian Rice Noodles, Eggplant, Kokum-Coconut Broth (Verdejo, Aldor (Rueda, Spain) 2004)
Roast Duck Two Ways Pickled Papaya, Rice Paper Spring Roll & Local Peach Jus (Syrah/Barbera/Pinot Noir Blend, Sean Thackrey Pleiades XIV Old Vines (California))
Millefeuille of Chocolate and Goat Cheese Mission Figs Two Ways, Zinfandel Ice Cream, Candied Pistachios (Recioto della Valpolicella, Tesauro (Veneto, Italy) 2001)
Honestly, I don't remember the duck. Not that it was bad, it was just a blur of good. Actually, I think the last item I actually could describe with some coherence was the, er, Braised Black Bass. Awesome meal. Tabla's upstairs dining room is gorgeous. Fine staff took good care of us. Bravo.
Friday
My brother arrived on Friday at 6:30 via the Chinatown bus. 6:30 on a Friday in Chinatown is not for the faint of heart as far as traffic. Because I am a dork, I thought it would be fun to get a little car to go pick him up with. It was pouring rain all dayFriday, so it kind of made sense. I rented a very handsome red Mini Cooper from ZipCar. Quick car review: Had some buggy electronics that would suddenly display almost every error on the dashboard. Literally I was stuck on the Manhattan bridge in a downpour and I look down and the 'check engine' light is on. As well as the 'you have a flat tire' light and for an extra measure of stress the 'ABS brake system is down'. Also the idle on the car was screwy. And it's hard to see stop lights because of the way the roof is cut. But...
Holy cow. Need to get down the FDR and do that little sneak in front of waiting traffic trick to get onto the Brooklyn Bridge? Perfect little car. It also does really well on the token one smooth street in Red Hook with no traffic hauling ass thing. Adored the little car.
Taro I have raved about Taro Sushi before. We took little brother there on Friday night. It was an odd scene. Their floor was soaking wet for some reason. One of the tables wasn't bussed which isn't a huge deal, but apparently Wookiees had eaten at that table before. The delivery guy there was wearing large and very fresh looking bandages on his face as if he had just been in a knife fight. I'm sure my brother was thinking, "er, this is where they are taking me?"
We ordered the tasty unfiltered sake and did the omakase thing. Since it was after 9pm and was slowing down a bit we got the chef all to ourselves. Each little course came at a good clip. No waiting.
Little brother dutifully ate everything and seemed to enjoy it all. Sweet shrimp. Sea urchin. Octopus. Fried sweet shrimp head (sans eyeballs). All very pretty. After dinner, we took a long walk through Park Slope to try and relive our bloated, fish-filled bellies. He called his wife and excitedly listed the things he had just eaten.
Saturday
Little Bistro Saturday was our actual anniversary day, so of course that means that you go out with like a million people. We met a bunch of folks at Sample for drinks and then went to Little Bistro for a late dinner. LB (as the kids might call it) has a number of tables out in front of the restaurant and they were able to put the seven of us out there. It was a lovely evening weather-wise. The bottles of Bonny Doon's Riesling were plenty. Good friends. Tasty food. Long dinner. Absolutely perfect.
Because I am a dork, I thought it would be fun to get a little car to go pick him up with. It was pouring rain all dayFriday, so it kind of made sense. I rented a very handsome red Mini Cooper from ZipCar.
