As posted originally on Greenpointers.com:

I thought I’d dropped the ball. For a while Good Yoga was serving vegetarian dinners, but when I inquired, chef Moti was gone. Moti! Where are you?
Then I got an invitation to “Moti’s Last Supper” and I was so on it.
Going to Good Yoga is like going to a cozy (and more calm) extension of your own home and Flannery and Ray welcome you in like family. But like all supper clubs, the strangers sitting at the table aren’t family and at first there is some social fumbling. That is what red wine is for.
Moti, with his man bun on his head, was busy working the kitchen. I tried my best to get some answers. Moti, who are you? Where are you from? Why are you leaving us? But, Moti was very focused on his preparation and canceling out the background noise that was my voice.
It was presumptive for me to assume he was Indian, even though he looks Indian (in a yoga way.) Rather he is Kurdish, from Israel, but has an Indian spiritual grandmother, with whom he spent time with in India and where he learned some of his cooking. Moti is going back to India and everyone is sad to see him go. How long will he stay? However long he needs to, he explained.
I could have pushed and prodded (I am really good at that) but I left Moti to do his thing, for the last time, and remain a mystery to me. You can learn a lot about a person from what they do rather than what they say. In this case his actions resulted in delicious carefully prepared and wholesome food in my mouth.
Moti makes an art out of preparing vegetables, which is true vegetarian cooking at it’s finest. I don’t want fake meat and deep fried starch. I love vegetable and they don’t need to be masked with heavy sauces or cooked down until oblivion. Moti lets vegetables be vegetables, the best that they can be.

First Course: Cauliflower Couscous, Fennel Pesto, Olive Oil Drenched Scallions, Roasted Red Peppers and Eggplants.
I’ll just say one thing: CAULIFLOWER COUSCOUS! It was the texture of couscous and had that delicious raw cauliflower flavor. Bringing out the delicate flavor of couscous is difficult, especially when it’s on the same plate with pesto and roasted peppers, but it was all there and that plate was happy together.

Second Course: Spinach Salad, Raw Green Peas, Beets, Kohlrabi with Pistachio Ginger Dressing
A fresh and perfectly dressed salad with chunky raw vegetable crunch. See body, sometimes I do give you nutritional delicious food. (Just don’t get used to it!)

Third Course: Beet Steaks, Fried Onion, Fried Egg, Spicy Feta, Yaprach (stuffed onion with scallion and celery)
Don’t tell me you can’t fill up on vegetables. The stuffed onion is a traditional Kurdish dish, Moti learned from his other grandmother. It was such a grandma food that makes you full and warm. I could have eaten ten. The beet steaks cooked enough to not be raw but still have a fresh crunch and they had a good sour bite to them.

Dessert: Pear Drunk with Red Wine and Pomegranate Sauce and Whipped Cream
There is nothing better than fruit for dessert with a generous amount of whipped cream. To me the fruit is an aside, in this case, a delicious warm, sweet and sour aside.

Moti you will be missed!

Good Yoga
73 Calyer St

Brooklyn Staycation #1

As posted originally in Greenpointers:

We live in the best borough in the world! Instead of spending money on a plane ticket, we decided to take a much needed staycation in Brooklyn. Hotel Williamsburg was generous to sponsor Greenpointers for a two night stay, while we toured the area.
We were tempted to lock ourselves in the hotel room and listen to records all weekend. The gigantic plush king size bed was a main attraction and we found ourselves making giant Xs and saying, “I miss you, where are you?” The window from the bedroom into the bathroom made urinating very interesting and the view of McCarren Park’s red tailed hawk pair was a score!
We had an intinerary, not a very ambitious one. The beauty of the staycation is you don’t have to fit it all in because there is always next weekend.

Friday night we took the East River Ferry over to Dumbo for a nostalgic ride on Jane’s Carousel. There isn’t a better view of Brooklyn than from the ferry and there isn’t a better spot for an old timey carousel than under the Brooklyn Bridge, which is housed in a modern glass building. And $2 per ride makes this a great budget attraction.
While waiting for Vinegar Hill Houseto open (not a great budget attraction) we visited Shibui Japanese Antiques, a great place to see amazingly crafted wood furniture and objects dating back thousand of years. A walk around Vinegar Hill, the neighborhood, is like going back in time to an old quaint fishing village with old cobblestone streets and that “are you sure we are in NYC?” vibe.
Dinner at Vinegar Hill House is always a pleaser. The cheese plate with salami and quail egg is always amazing, but the stand-out dish was theBucatini with Chorizo Ragú and Seared Octopus. Just get it, you will drool.
We rode our bikes home on the scenic bike path through the Brooklyn Navy Yard and down Kent Ave into Williamsburg, stopping at the former Monster Island building to take a look at the new graffiti and the well cared for feral cat population.
We intended to dance the night away at the Brooklyn Soul Club party at Kinfolk Studios, but once we hit that bed… we fell right to sleep.
Waking up in a hotel that is a walk from your home makes packing, or non-packing easy. I wished I remembered my toothbrush until I had a cocktail and the Ricotta Pancakes for brunch atFive Leaves. (Quick comparison: it’s hard to compare the food between Five Leaves and Vinegar Hill House, both have exquisite menus and make me proud I live in Brooklyn, but the service at Five Leaves far exceeds that of Vinegar Hill House. Everyone is a regular and I think that sets apart many Greenpoint establishments.)
Into a taxi and off to massages at Body By Brooklyn in Cobble Hill. The spa had all the unspoken rules that make you feel like you’re doing everything wrong, but the saunas and hot tubs were relaxing, it wasn’t huge and packed with kids like Spa Castle, and our massages were perfection.
What do you do after a massage? Nap in a giant bed and not feel like you’re missing out on crossing things off your vacation check-list.
For dinner we met the parental units at Paulie Gee’s for some amazing pizza. The Greenpointer (not because of the name) is a pizza I crave and it always delivers. And no matter where you hail from, down the street or Japan, Paulie will chat with you like a regular and remember you the next time you come in.
Last day we woke up early for a stroll in McCarren Park, then breakfast burritos at Urban Rustic and just in time to make a noon showing of Princess Bride at Nighthawk Cinemas, a full service movie theatre, where the running joke is they should hire little people as waiters. But the satisfaction of an afternoon cocktail while watching Fred Savage on the big screen, eases your pity for the crouching service.
For lunch we hit up Nights & Weekends because I was craving the Croque Signora, the perfect inter-cultural marriage in sandwich form between a Cuban and a Croque Monsieur: pulled pork shoulder, speck, gruyére, mustard & pickles on a perfect brioche bun topped with a fried egg. This is well balanced and perfect to share with the blood orange salad.
We had already “checked out” of our sweet hotel room and would spend the evening at home, but traveling there didn’t involve a long car ride or torturous wait at the airport. It was Super Bowl Sunday and we planned on making mac n’ cheese, but fancy, so we headed to the Brooklyn Kitchen. If you’re in Brooklyn, and a cooking obsessed human (or dog, it’s pet friendly), then don’t miss out on this locavore meca. I know the prices can be “holy…!” but the quality of the meats from The Meat Hook is amazing, and it’s fun to look around at all the cool gadgets and vintage cookware.
A perfect end to a perfect staycation was sitting on the couch, truly relaxed from zero travel, with a mound of mac n’ cheese and glass of champagne, courtesy of the Hotel Williamsburg, and thinking that if our wallets wouldn’t burst into tears, we could do this every weekend. Brooklyn rules!

Homemade Pasta Class at EAT

Originally posted for Greenpointers.com:

Don’t let my Nonna read this. Shame on me for having to attend a pasta class. But boxed pasta is so damn easy! So is going out to eat.

When I got the email from EAT, it mentioned that Nick, the pasta teacher, has been cooking since he was in kindergarten. That seems dangerous, but at least he has a lot of experience.

The class began perfectly: with a cocktail, a really earthy beet cocktail served really strong by Jordon, the owner of Eat.

We got right into it. Well Jon did. He was made to mill the potatoes then hand mix the gnocchi batter. No fancy restaurant machinery is necessary to make gnocchi at home.

Boil about 1.5 lbs. of potatoes in cold water salted water, then let them cool. Reserve the starchy water, which can be used to incorporate into the gnocchi batter if it’s too dry. Mill the potatoes in a food mill or use a potato masher. Then by  hand mix the potatoes with about 2c. of flour. You want a mushy, not too dry, chunky consistency.

Then roll the batter out and pinch pieces off pieces with a butter knife. It’s good to let them sit at room temperature for a few hours if possible, so they don’t turn into blobs when you boil them.

Nick was very specific about pasta boiling. You want pasta to boil in ALOT of very salty water. He even tasted the water for salt content. If it doesn’t have enough water, then it doesn’t have enough room to release the starch, and it will be impossible to ever achieve the transcendental al dente pasta status. And stir. After you add the pasta, stir it once so it doesn’t stick.

Boil the gnocchi for about 6 minutes as the “floating rule” doesn’t always apply.

Now it’s time for creamy sauce. After you drain your pasta (remember to save some of the water!) add it back to the hot pot. Then add danish bleu cheese, grated grana padano cheese, butter and some of that reserved pasta water if needed.

That is it! What you have is the most delicious and creamy homemade gnocchi in town.

To top it all off, this amazing meal was followed by honey buckwheat cake.

Nick is leaving Brooklyn to live on a farm in Pennsylvania Dutch country and once per week he is going to serve sandwiches that are going to blow the amish people’s socks off at the Eastern Market there. Road trip!

Check out Eat’s website for more classes. And Eat will be participating in this Saturday’sGreenpointers Gallery Tour.

Eat
124 Meserole Ave

CHUTNEY CLASS

Come one, come all and learn how to make 3 kinds of delicious chutney to take home! It's going to be a lot of fun. March 14, 2012 @ 7pm at Good Yoga in Greenpoint. Click here for more info or email greenpointers (at) gmail.com to sign up!

DIM SUM SUPER STAR: YOU HAD ME AT TUNA TARTARE

Originally post for Greenpointers.com:

At a recent Yummy Eats Dim Sum dinner with wine pairings by Wine By Design NYC, the food was the real super star. The food paparazzi were in full force and when Chef Joseph Yoon brought out each gorgeously plated dish, anxious hands held back until every iphone in the room recorded the food glory. That is what you get when you have an underground supper club filled with foodies and food bloggers. Food photo frenzy!

The food didn’t only look great but it tasted exquisite. And Lauren Johnson, our genius sommelier perfectly paired wine with each dish.

Don’t tell, but we drank 25 gallons of wine! And I actually learned a few thing. Normally I just gulp gulp gulp, but Lauren is a not-preachy-so-I-actually-listen teacher and gives great insight. She loves wine and it shows.

Like the first pouring, a Cava, which is comparable to Champagne, but has bigger bubbles (interesting!) has been drunk by the Spanish Royal family for generations. And “drunk” is a non-standard usage, but correct past participle of the verb to drink.

The cava was perfect with the first dish, the dish why I was there, my favorite dish ever: Tuna Tartare on Wonton Crisps. The fish was so fresh, so flavorful, with great texture and it wasn’t overly seasoned with ginger or soy sauce. The soft raw tuna on the crispy wonton was the perfect texture mix-up for my mouth. And it kept coming and I kept eating it!

Why did Joseph Yoon, Dim Sum Super Star, get into cooking? For the ladies of course. He had me at Tuna Tartare.

Next we had deep “double” fried Crispy Scallion Pancakes, executed perfectly with a ginger oil that Joseph prepares a few hours in advance with fresh grated ginger in canola oil.

The next pouring was a naturally effervescent Portuguese Vino Verde, which to me tasted earthy and fresh like a wine salad, and when you hold it up to a piece of white paper it has a gorgeous green hue. The dishes we paired them with were really fun, too.

Someone kept asking, “Does this have fish in it?” More for me, but did you read the menu?

Time for the most spectacular looking dish: Tempura Anchovy w/Wasabi-Sriracha Sauce.  If you are scared of eating entire little fish bodies, fry them (or let Joseph do it) because anything fried is delicious. They were so flakey, not oily and not too salty.

Next was Lobster & Pancetta Wontons. I know your brain can’t handle this, but just hold on. They were everything you could ask from a wonton, crunchy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside, but oozing with creamy lobster and bacon!

The third pairing was a Pinot Noir. Such a great go-to wine, silky and smooth.

In my family, the only time there is complete silence is when we have a stunningly delicious dish in front of us and our mouths are too full to actually speak. I had a similar moment with Skirt Steak-Steamed Spinach & Quail Egg Wonton.  Ooey gooey mini egg goodness and falling off the bone meat in a crunchy shell, but not for long because these were one biters for me. For once I couldn’t speak.

Braised Beef Short Rib Steam Buns time! The buns are so interesting to me, because they are so light, and combined with fresh greens it’s paradoxically like eating a salad sandwich with a lot of moist perfectly seasoned juicy beef. Best buns I have ever had.

Get this: Korean Pear w/Five-Spice Pork. I have to say this is my first dessert-time meat and I was really into it.

It went with the last pairing was with a “Grand Terroir” which when compared to the Pinot Noir in terms of colors was so light and bright. The wine was in a screwtop and Lauren explained: “This wine is meant to be drunk young!” which was followed by a heated discussion on screwtops vs. corks. With a wine not meant to be aged screwtops are the way to go.

For the kicker, we ended the evening with Maple Ice Cream w/Chocolate Bacon followed by a Late Bottle Vintage Port, which is made from grapes literally rotting (with fungus) off the vine, so you get a deep and rich almost raisin taste.

Thanks Yummy Eats and Wine By Design for a truly memorable (despite the gallons of wine in my brain) meal.

Try Yummy Eats’ Chocolate 5 Spice Bacon, which is on the menu for the Greenpointers Gallery Tour After Party 3/10/12 at 9pm at TBD (224 Franklin St.)