Tea Time & Cous-Cous

After a stately jaunt through the Neue Galerie, which has an enjoyable exhibit on Josef Hoffmann, the Austrian architect (his textiles are cute, a more upscale version of Ikea), I went for tea at Alice’s Tea Cup #2 (the first one is on the UWS). It is very similar to Alice No. 1 decor-wise. Cutesy Alice in Wonderland theme everywhere, including the bathroom, where flowers a la “we’re painting the roses red” cover the ceiling, half white, half red, and one in the middle half painted. There’s also a large looking glass hanging from a large ribbon that allow bathroom patrons to examine the miniature pictures of various scenes from Lewis Carroll’s book.

I was starving at this point, so I decided to go all out and try numerous nibblies. The butternut squash soup had a great texture, not all the squash was completely pureed, which lent itself to the lovely warm taste. A little nutty, not too rich (sometimes squash soups are too thick and creamy, and I’d like to see anyone finish a bowl of mouth-coating soup like that), and served with a rosemary foccaccia. I also had half of a curried chicken salad sandwich that included tiny chopped up pieces of apple and sprinkled with raisins, which I’ve tried before, so I knew it would be satisfying.

Alice’s scones are clearly the centerpiece around which this all revolves, which makes sense, since tea time in England is famous for its scones. They offer a myriad of different flavors every day. I ordered the eggnog chocolate chip, which had an interesting spicy kick that I’ve never encountered in a scone. It was a little drier than the other two scones K ordered. I would recommend going with the pumpkin or banana creme flavored ones which both had a glaze on top and were much more moist. All were served with a tiny pot of jam and creme; the jam was great, a little on the chunky side with lots of seeds and bursting with flavor.

I wish I could say more about the actual tea I drank, but I don’t know enough about tea to properly appreciate it. They have a several page list of all the different teas they offer, but I would say to choose your tea according to what you order to eat, since you want them to complement each other.

The service was very attentive and considerate. Our waitress was really thoughtful, asking if we wanted the last bite of scone before she whisked the plate away. But if you go at the wrong time, Alice’s is incredibly busy and I’m sure the wait is long. It’s worth it to go once, just to try tea time like the English, and marvel at the tea list, bathroom and scones.

A couple of hours later, I was all ready for dinner at Cafe Mogador, a cozy Moroccan restaurant in the West Village. It’s a dark, haphazard looking place, with a bar crowded to the nth degree. We had to wait about 45 minutes to be seated. Fortunately, there’s this really cool little used bookstore next store, East Village Books. So we perused the shelves for awhile before attempting our next charge at the door (I found a $4 copy of Esquire’s collection of fiction, a steal!).

Although the hostess was unfriendly and not particularly helpful, our waiter was genuinely nice and didn’t bother us too much when it was clear we had been talking and not looking at the menu at all. I had a ginger martini was quite tasty and refreshing, really strong too.

I had the Moroccan fish tagine which was a meaty, filling dish of white fish, potatoes and carrots. Quite tasty and they give you a surprisingly spicy hot sauce on the side. The potatoes were perfectly cooked, not too hard and not too soft, scrumptious with the chili sauce. Now, I was never a fan of cous-cous, having had a bad run-in with a cold version that was gross and pebbly. But I see the problem now, cous-cous only tastes good to me when it’s served hot and has sauce spooned over it.

I see why Mogador is so crowded, although after shelling over money for Alice’s Tea Cup in the same day, I was reluctant to part with $17 for my tagine, good as it was. It’s a fun place, though, and the bartender’s pretty cute, so I would go back, preparing myself for the long wait first.

Locations:
Alice’s Tea Cup #2
156 E64th St (btw Lex & 3rd)

Cafe Mogador
101 St. Mark’s Place (at 1st Ave)

Conversation with Mario Batali and David Kamp

Tuesday night, I got to see Mario (big, orange, and furry) chat with David Kamp (author of The United States of Arugula) about their former status as ex-lovers, Alice Waters, and why Food Network sucks.

Kamp has known Batali for about nine years, but their relationship, however indirect, runs deeper than that. Kamp used to go to this neighborhood restaurant, Stuff-Yer-Face, in Jersey where Batali was one of the cooks, specializing in stromboli techniques. Kamp quipped that Mario was his ex-lover, and this joke kept surfacing every now and then for a quick, gratifying laugh for both men.

Mario discussed his disappointment with Food Network’s decision to go with shows that create quickie meals and transform store-bought goods into something semi-homemade (cough sandra lee cough). I think they cancelled Molto Mario (I don’t know why, that show is awesome!), but of course, there is Iron Chef America, which rocks. He kept mentioning that he’s more interested in the process than the end product(take that Rachael Ray) and that his shows were about teaching people what he knows.

Kamp agreed with Mario and also brought up Bobby Flay (who I dislike b/c of his arrogance and disregard for clean kitchen counters) as someone who’s image is distorted by television. FoodNetwork portrays him as their go-to “grill guy,” but Kamp seems to think there’s more to him then meets the eye. Okay fine, since I think Kamp’s cool, I’ll give Bobby Flay the benefit of the doubt.

Mario grew up in Seattle and Spain, and went to Rutgers. His parents actually encouraged him to go culinary school instead of college, but he chose to get his bachelor’s in Spanish theater (very useful, as he noted). He mentioned that he thought everyone should attend college b/c it teaches you how to make friends and interact well with others. hahaha. Oh, let’s discuss his lovely outfit. If you’ve ever seen pictures or read about Batali, you probably know he wears those hot orange clog thingys that have huge holes poked through the top. This time, he was wearing them with these pale pink socks that were scrunched down a bit, with shorts.

Since I went into Mario’s, let’s also briefly go into Kamp’s interesting attire, as well. He was wearing this dark forest green suit with long pointy shoes and funny striped green socks. At certain angles, he resembles Chandler Bing aka Matthew Perry. Longish wavy hair swept back in this older hipster look.

Both of the men were really witty and hilarious. They were so awesome, I wish they could be my uncles. How cool would it be if Mario Batali was your uncle? He’s really down-to-earth, warm and friendly. He referred to this one blogger who rags on him all the time, and he reads her page whenever he needs to be taken down a notch. He did make sure to check if she was in the audience, saying, b/c if she is I’m gonna take her out. hahaha.

If anyone wants to know, his favorite place to go in the city besides his own places, is Pearl Oyster Bar, which is right across the street from Po, one of his first restaurants.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine

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Sugar Sweet Sunshine, originally uploaded by sl2163.

on a recent trip to the food haven that is the LES, i picked up this little goody, pumpkin trifle. now if i had known such a gem existed, i surely would have attempted to make it part of my regular diet. fortunately for my health, i just discovered it.

it is composed of my favorite dessert flavors: pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg. there’s a cakey middle, and surrounding that is the fluffy happiness of whipped cream and some other gooey bits enhancing the overall texture of the dessert.

other tasty treats i sampled on multiple (well, only 2) visits:

pumpkin w/cheesecake icing to the left, ooey gooey on the right

pistachio on top, red velvet on the bottom

i would venture to say that ooey gooey is my favorite cupcake there. the icing is not too sweet, nor is the cake part of the cupcake overwhelming. everything is perfectly balanced in happy chocolate harmony. according to the website, ooey gooey is chocolate cake with chocolate almond buttercream. oh yea. both the pistachio and red velvet had too much butter in their icing, but if you like that, go for it. they call that type of icing “the moose.” still, overall, better than magnolia, ten times over.

visit Sugar Sweet Sunshine and re-acquaint yourself with upgraded childhood favorites.

Fish – but really oysters

raw oysters

fried oysters

made a visit to Fish, in the West Village, a small cozy seafood shack. the shellfish were quite tasty, both oysters and mussels. good flavors, fresh seafood. but the lobster roll, so NOT worth it. really small and very expensive. it’s not that amazing to warrant such a price.

if you go, go for the oysters/mussels (and the cheap beer):

Fish
280 Bleecker St. @ Jones St.