restaurantgirl

by Harold Dieterle
(Serves four)

Ingredients

• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
• 1 pound ground duck
• 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons chile sauce, such as sriracha or sambal
• 1/4 cup panko
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and 3 cloves garlic.  Cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes; remove from heat and let cool.

Add onion and garlic mixture to a large bowl, along with, ground duck, basil, chile sauce, panko, and eggs. Knead mixture until well combined; season with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to refrigerator and let chill for 30 minutes.

Remove duck mixture from refrigerator.  Divide meat into four equal portions and form into patties.  Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and brown on all sides. Transfer to a baking sheet and finish cooking in the oven.

Address: 9 Jones St., btwn. West 4th & Bleecker Sts.
Phone: (212)929-6868

Chef and co-owner Mike Price is so attached to Market Table that even he got married in this 40-seat market-cum-restaurant.   Who better to cook for the occasion than chef Joey Campanaro (The Little Owl)?  Regulars who pack into this Greenwich Village eatery even came by to watch the ceremony through the floor-to-ceiling windows.  Dinner highlights included Market Table's signature gnocchi with braised short ribs and crab cakes.  Before launching Market Table, he trained at the CIA and then went on to work for restaurateurs Jimmy Bradley and Danny Abrams at the Mermaid Inn and The Harrison.  Now Price plays the part of butcher, baker as well as chef.  His seasonal American spring menu will feature a salad of fava beans, pecorino and mint and an English pea risotto. 

Status: Single/Married/Divorced
Recently married March 2, 2008 to my amazing wife Amy.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I've always wanted to cook.  I started at home around the age of five cooking plain rice, helping my mother, etc.  My grandfather was a butcher and my grandmother was dietitian, and the other side of my family raised animals and grew crops on the family farm, so food is in my blood.

What was your first job in food?
My first food job was as a dishwasher at The Maryland Way Restaurant at the Holiday Inn in Solomons, Maryland.

After working at NYC's Symphony Café, you moved to Miami to open upscale seafood restaurant Fish. How did the restaurant scene in Miami differ from NYC?...

It was definitely a smaller scene at least back then.  Nobody went out to eat until about 7 or 7:30 so we would set up the line, go to the beach, have a cocktail, and then go cook.  It was great!

Having grown up near the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, have you ever had a desire to go back and open a crab shack?
I've always wanted to open a place like that, and came close once, but it didn't work out.  Maybe I'll revisit the idea in a few years when/if I get some property down there.

You recently opened Market Table, a seasonal American restaurant that brings market ingredients to the table.  How did you develop your idea of blending a market and a restaurant?...

**Two Stars
CAPSULE: Nostalgic for an old New York.
ADDRESS: 50 Commerce St., between Bedford and Barrow Sts.
PHONE: (212) 524-2301
DINNER: Mon.-Sat., 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.-11 p.m.
CUISINE:  New American
VIBE:  Charming tavern
OCCASION:  Neighborhood dining; group dinner
DON’T-MISS DISH:  Marinated fluke sashimi; red snapper with Thai-inspired herb broth
PRICE:  Appetizers, $11-19; entrees, $23-44; desserts, $9-16
RESERVATIONS:  Recommended

Cue the historical relevance of 50 Commerce St.: Nestled on a cobblestone-paved corner in Greenwich Village, this address has seen a Depression-era speakeasy, the 50-year-long run of the Blue Mill Tavern and a quintessential neighborhood haunt, Grange Hall. Did I mention a short-lived restaurant that resurrected the name of the Blue Mill Tavern?

If you've ever wondered what it was like to dine in the Village in the 1940s, step into Commerce. It's the newest incarnation of this landmark building. Co-owners Tony Zazula and chef Harold Moore, who met while working at Montrachet, have elegantly appointed the space with bronze sconces, an Art Deco Brunswick bar and restored wooden booths from the original Blue Mill Tavern.

The menus are presented in chintzy plastic slips, but this is not standard tavern fare. Trained under Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, chef Moore issues New American cuisine, rife with ambition and refinement.

Instead of the down-home comforts of meatloaf or a green bean casserole, you'll find a salad of "20 herbs and lettuces," sliced beef tataki and a market special of parsnip soup with black cherry foie gras and maple syrup gelée. There's even a full-time baker in the kitchen, exclusively devoted to a glorious assortment of housemade pretzels, olive rolls, crusty baguettes and brioches.

You could spend an evening just feasting on the bread basket, but then you'd miss out on a classically French arrangement of warm oysters luxuriating in a Champagne sauce, decked with leeks, caviar and slivers of potato. Or an exceptionally fresh appetizer of lime-marinated fluke sashimi, perfectly seasoned with fleur de sel and an herb-infused oil. There's also a fantastic treatment of crispy-skinned snapper, which gets a foamy rush of flavor from a green coconut-curry broth that's poured over the filet tableside...

Chef Ben Pollinger is not another seasonal American chef boasting organic ingredients from local farmers: he's doing his own part to provide the ingredients himself.  With a 500 square foot organic garden, Ben is as enthusiastic about his spring plants as the spring dishes on the menu at Oceana, a well-respected seafood restaurant in midtown. 

His mantra: “It’s all about relationships: the relationship between the farmer and the soil, the relationship between the fresh ingredients and preparing techniques; most importantly, the relationship between the dining experience and those enjoying it.”

At Oceana, Ben creates a global cuisine melding international flavors and techniques to create an eclectic menu of seafood dishes. Signature dishes include the steamed grouper with lotus root, yu choy, young coconut, wood ear mushrooms & black bean sauce, and  seared Hawaiian opah with hearts of palm, Oakwood shitakes, water spinach and wasabi creme fraiche.  

Status: Single/Married/Divorced
Happily married with two kids.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A lawyer.  I was always argumentative.

What was your first job in food?
I was a cook in my dormitory cafeteria while studying economics at Boston University.  My first day I cooked several hundred frozen hamburger patties.   I graduated to cooking eggs to order on Sunday morning for 750 people.

You spent time in Monte-Carlo working as a stagier for Alain Ducasse and Frank Cerutti at Le Louis XV. What did you learn most from these two important culinary figures?
Lightness, purity of flavor, organization and an incessant drive for perfection.

Do you have a desire to work again outside of the US?...
It’s always great to be immersed in another culture and learn new things about how other people live and eat. I recently cooked on a trip to Iceland and was very much inspired by the ingredients, what I ate and experienced there.

You spent time working at Tabla and Union Square Cafe, both Danny Meyer restaurants, and two very different cuisines.  Was the transference difficult from Indian cuisine to American/Italian?
No.  Both restaurants had American ingredients and classical technique at their roots,  I already had a good understanding of American and Italian flavors before coming to Tabla.

We heard you have a 500 square foot organic garden. What are you excited to grow for the spring?

** Two Stars - A fettuccine worth traveling for.
ADDRESS: 55-15 37th Ave., near 56th St., Woodside. PHONE: (718) 446-1500
DINNER: Tues.-Sat., 5:30-11 p.m.; Sun., 3-10:30 p.m. Closed Mondays.
CUISINE  Regional Italian
VIBE  Charming market-restaurant
OCCASION  Destination dining; authentic Italian supper
DON'T-MISS DISH  Fettuccine al'Antonio; polenta-crusted tilapia
PRICE  Appetizers, $9.50-$14; entrees, $17-$26; desserts, $7
RESERVATIONS  Accepted

No ice. No tap water. No cheese on seafood dishes. No lemon peel in espresso. These are just four of the "Ten Commandments" patrons must abide by at Sapori d'Ischia, an Italian specialty market-restaurant in an industrial section of Woodside, Queens. Try requesting butter for the bread; your server may return with a framed set of rules to review before attempting an order.

It seems presumptuous for a wholesale store that peddles imported goods by day to enforce such vigilant decrees of dining by night. Especially when you may be seated against refrigerated shelves stocked with cheeses. Before you protest, taste the signature fettuccine al'Antonio: It's an exalted rite of passage that should be their Eleventh Commandment. Prosciutto-studded noodles get plunged into a pungent wheel of Parmesan and coated with a hypnotic dose of white truffle oil.

This giant Parmesan wheel is as much a fixture in the dining room as the artisanal pastas and canned tomatoes, which are supplied to many of the city's top restaurants. At night, votive candles spruce up store shelves and live music fills the charming space. A weathered mural of the port of Ischia, an island off Naples, hangs dutifully from the wall.

Father-and-son owners Franco and Antonio Galano, natives of Ischia, passionately embrace the authentic cuisine of Italy. With its straightforward and boldly flavored cooking, this eight-year-old eatery doesn't so much clamor for your attention as command it.

Octopus gets an unusually hearty treatment here: Charred baby octopus is nestled in a rich stew of caper berries, cranberry beans and radicchio. The crusty house bread should be used to mop up the delectable pool of sauce that forms below this mix. A succulent braised rabbit is flecked with peas, house-cured pancetta and slivers of potato. Wide ribbons of pappardelle, slathered in a rustic ragu of hot and sweet sausages, are nearly as gratifying.

While an onslaught of new restaurants distract with gimmicks and overcomplicated dishes, Sapori d'Ischia aims to satisfy and often succeeds. The steadiness of the kitchen, run by co-chefs Roberto Villanueva (Jean Claude) and Daniele Barbos (Restaurant Regina Isabella), instills confidence in its diners.

But what's even more compelling than the simplicity of old-school classics are the dashes of polish and creativity among the seafood dishes. A polenta-crusted tilapia is enriched by a zesty marriage of red pepper puree and a walnut parsley pesto. It gets an additional boost from a garlicky fricassee of string beans and spinach. A monkfish is delicately glazed in Pinot Grigio and draped over a lush hill of truffle-scented escarole. The wine list has a fine selection of boutique Italian producers with 15 varietals available by the glass.

Sapori d'Ischia is not without its drawbacks. The brick oven pizzas were repeatedly undercooked. Floppy crusts caved under the weight of their toppings. I ran into a similar problem with gummy gnocchi. I could've been eating raw dough. And though live opera music on Thursdays can make this market feel romantic, it stifles conversation.

There's no celebrity chef in the kitchen or glossy furnishings, but there is plenty to savor on the table. Even the olive oil claims distinction: The olives are grown on the family's groves in Italy. It doesn't get much more authentic than that.

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
**Don't forget to subscribe for Restaurant Girl's Newsletter**

Abboccato
136 W 55th St., btwn 6th & 7th Aves.
New York 10019
(212) 265-4000
www.abboccato.com
This elegant midtown Italian offers a $65, 5-course Easter menu with Tuscan bread soup, followed by ricotta dumplings in a licorice herb sauce.  For the main course, lamb chops come encrusted with porcini mushrooms and served with bone marrow flan. For $95, a wine pairing for each course is also made available for the occasion.

Little Dishes
434 7th Ave., btwn 14th & 15th Sts.
Brooklyn 11215
(718) 369-3144
www.littled-eatery.com
If the weather cooperates, you can celebrate Easter in the back garden of this quaint Brooklyn restaurant.  Brunch features biscuits with rose jamm, pork butt served with cheddar grits and scrambled eggs, or the English Ploughman’s plate.  A Bellini or Bloody Mary should pair nicely with this hearty menu.

Aureole
34 East 61st St., btwn. Park & Madison Aves.
New York, NY 10021
(212) 319-1660
charliepalmer.com
Spend the holiday at this midtown brownstone, where chef Charlie Palmer designs a $95, three-course menu, highlighting a three pepper-seared quail with caramelized squash, osso buco in a cherry jus, and scallops with lobster tortellini.  For dessert, a banana and white chocolate mousse parfait with fresh mango makes for a refreshing ending.

Miriam
79 5th Ave., nr. Prospect Place
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 622-2250
www.miriamrestaurant.com
This Park Slope haunt embraces Mediterranean cuisine with a distinct focus on Israeli dishes.  A detour from the typical Easter brunch, a la carte options include a peppery Shakshuka (Mediterranean eggs,) a Greek frittata, and a mixed mushroom with thyme omelette.   

Molyvos
871 7th Ave., btwn. 55th and 56th Sts.
New York, NY 10019
(212) 582-7500
In keeping with Greek tradition, Molyvos is hosting “Breaking of the Fast,” at midnight on Sunday, April 27th.  Festivities include a parade to the local Greek church, a $60 tasting feast of taramosalata and zucchini fritters in Greek yogurt, followed by Easter lamb soup and slow roasted lamb with yogurt-feta dumplings.  Greek Easter eggs with tsoureki bread will cap off the official end of Lent.

Café des Artistes
1 W. 67th S., btwn. CPW & Columbus Ave.
New York, NY 10023
(212) 877-3500
Website
This UWS French institution hosts an Easter brunch that launches with “Billy Bi” soup and a Lyonnaise salad.  For a main course, Mediterranean seafood stew with aioli and a ginger soy-glazed cod with a mix of Asian and European vegetables stand out.  A dessert tasting of coconut, chocolate, pears, and pistachio makes for an exotic end to the meal...

By Executive Chef Ben Pollinger
(Serves 4 as an appetizer)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound Natucket Bay Scallops
• 1 Cup mamey pulp
• 1 Tbs fresh lime juice
• Segments from the following citrus fruits: pomelo, cara cara orange, sweet lime, ponderosa lemon, Satsuma mandarin.
• Reserved zest of all fruits except the pomelo.
• 1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbs ginger, minced
• 1 Tbs chilis, sliced
• 8 leaves Thai basil chiffonade
• 8 leaves mint chiffonade
• 8 leaves cilantro chiffonade
• Salt, fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 Cup toasted charoli nuts
• Pith from 1 pomelo
• 1 1/2 pounds sugar
• 1 Cup water

Preparation for the citrus salad:
(Citrus substitutions - Navel oranges, ruby red grapefruit, tangerines and regular lemons or limes will also do when pomelo is not available.  Avocado may substitute for mamey.)   

• Puree the mamey pulp in a blender with the lime juice.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reserve.
• Cut the citrus segments into small pieces.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle zest, ginger and chilis around.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Reserve. 
• At time of plating toss with herbs. When preparing pomelo segments, use a utility knife or vegetable peeler to peel off the outer zest first.  Discard zest.
• Then cut the fruit in quarters and remove the inner flesh.  Square off the four quarters of remaining pith. Boil them for twenty minutes and rinse in several changes of cold water. 
• Combine pith, sugar and water in small saucepan.  Melt sugar and simmer together gently until pomelo is candied, approximately 45 minutes.  Reserve in syrup.  When cool dice 1/4 inches small.

Preparation for the Scallops:
Season scallops with salt and pepper... Sauté in canola oil with a litlle butter, swirling so butter browns and scallops cook to an even golden brown but remain medium rare inside.

Plate a few dollops of mamey puree to one side of plate.  Evenly distribute citrus salad.  Distribute a few pieces of candied pomelo around.  Sprinkle with toasted charoli nuts.  Garnish with a few sprigs of spicy micro greens, a few limequat chips and a drizzle of kaffir lime oil.  Distribute scallops evenly.

Because St. Patrick's Day is coming up next Monday, we've decided to share a festive green gizmo this week.  Never mind purchasing a cake, the "Turtle Pull A Part Cupcake Mold" will make you look like an artful baker.   It's easier than making a turtle-shaped cake, and to top it off, the mold is silicone, making for an easy release of the baked cake for icing.  Ice it green, and it'll accompany your frosted mug of green-tinted beer perfectly.

Turtle Pull A Part Cupcake Mold

Care to share your favorite kitchen gizmo? Email Us.

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
**Don't forget to subscribe for Restaurant Girl's Weekly Newsletter**

Taking a cue from New York's longstanding restaurant week, the Hamptons are offering a tempting version of their own, showcasing a burgeoning restaurant scene.  Nearly 70 restaurants will participate in this year's Sixth Annual Hampton’s Restaurant Week including venerable stalwarts such as Della Femina, 1770 House, and Nick & Toni’s, as well as newcomers, such as Matto (pictured right), Muse, and Wei Fun.

Along with a surprisingly affordable three-course prix-fixe menu for $21.95, the Hampton’s Restaurant Week also boasts specially priced vintages from Long Island’s North Fork wine country, which is gaining a national reputation for premium wine production.

The Hampton's Restaurant Week begins Sunday, March 30 – a bit too early for a frolic on the beach, but perfect for an early spring preview of this luxurious seaside retreat.

For more information, visit www.hamptonsrestaurantweek.com

Until we eat again,
Restaurant Girl
**Don't forget to subscribe for Restaurant Girl's Weekly Newsletter**