tribeca is so lucky!

i had a delicious meal last night at locanda verde. kudos to andrew carmellini who i think is super talented... everything was pretty perfect: bustling scene on a tuesday night, a beautiful bar (with great lighting), amazing food, and good service. i even liked the women's restroom!

i discovered last weekend that my favorite bartender, naren young, left bobo and has since taken over the entire cocktail program at locanda verde... what luck! so we started with cocktails which were all amazing. i even continued with cocktails through dinner, which is generally my preference when i know the drinks will be good.

our server gave us a rundown of the family-style menu, and we ordered a fair amount of food... we definitely wanted a sampling. we started with the lamb meatballs that had yummy pickles and were juicy, perfect. then two cicchetti, which she described as 4-5 bite servings, the blue crab crostini and cotechino sausage crostini. even my S.O., who doesn't like seafood generally, enjoyed the blue crab crostini! it was definitely a standout.

our next course included the burrata, a cheese that i ADORE, and the autumn salad which was my favorite type of salad full of radicchio, endive, hazelnuts and fatty pieces of speck, mmmm. my S.O. doesn't do veggies really, but i passed him some of the speck, which he appreciated.

for pastas, we only ordered 2 originally, but after we finished we needed to order another because they were so good. my grandmother's ravioli - stuffed with veal, pork and beef - was deemed by my S.O. as the best ravioli he's ever had. the tomato sauce was perfectly flavored - it was well-balanced and although i haven't had the red sauce at scarpetta, i bet locanda verde's would hold its own. the stracci with wild boar ragu was like thick shorter pappardelle, and even my S.O. went in for seconds and commented on how delish it was. i noted a blue cheese aftertaste that worked well with the dish, but i don't know if i'd order it again. our 3rd, last-minute pasta was the pumpkin agnolotti with a brown butter sage sauce... how can you go wrong? it was seasonal and so tasty, and we used the leftover bread to sop up the sauce. (note: the bread was just ok.)

for our secondi, we went with the highly lauded garlic chicken for 2 and the veal cheeks. i don't even like chicken, and i thought it was super flavorful. i only ate the drumsticks because i'm a dark meat girl, but i had the leftover white meat chicken today, and although a touch dry, as chicken breasts tend to be, the flavor was intensely garlic. but the real standout were the veal cheeks - i love the tender meat, over a perfect risotto milanese... another dish that i licked clean. a side of roasted brussels sprouts with chunks of pancetta and grated pecorino rounded out our vegetable-less meal; i love brussels sprouts, and these were no exception.

we even went for dessert because all of the dishes were so successful, i couldn't stop myself. i loved everything - the affogato, which is my favorite italian dessert, but the mascarpone gelato was a perfect twist; i was blown away by the pistachio brown butter cake with huckleberries; and the 3 flavors of gelati - rice custard, brown butter and caramel were all yummy. my S.O. is an ice cream guy, so we had to try them all.

overall, one of the better meals i've had in quite a while! for sure i'll be returning for cocktails AND food.

locanda verde
377 greenwich street at north moore
new york, ny 10013
212/925-3797

U2 ROCKS!

as a joint birthday gift for me and herself, my older sister brought me to the U2 360 concert at giants stadium on wed, 9/23/09. my last concert was in 2001 for the elevation tour; i had tickets for the vertigo tour, but was on my deathbed-ill and couldn't attend. after wednesday's show, i'm sad i missed the vertigo show, and even sadder that i only attended one show from this tour.

the only downside was taking NJ transit to the show. every email advised that it would be smart to take NJ transit, so that's what we did. what a nightmare! NJ transit was completely unprepared for the 60,000 riders heading to the show. it took us 2 hours to get there, and 2 hours to get back. CRAZY.



U2 are amazing performers, and this show was like a throwback concert - tons of old stuff. it was so good, that i'm trying to figure out how i can get to the LA show on 10/25/09 - with black-eyed peas! how good will that be?!

my sister rocks for taking me to U2!! here's the set list from the show!

now i know why it's called death & co.

i planned to share my first experience at death & co. yesterday, but i spent the better part of my day recovering from the delicious concoctions that i imbibed tuesday evening.

since i'm still celebrating the return of brown booze, i began my tuesday night cocktail evening with the manhattan transfer. this alcohol-forward cocktail is made with rittenhouse rye, dry vermouth, rarnazzotti and orange bitters. it's normally served up, but i had it on the rocks (generally my preference)... and in this case, on the rock would be more appropriate - this one was served over one giant ice cube. it might compete for best manhattan ever.

joaquim was our barman for the night, and he was really in tune with what we needed. my tequila cocktails - the oaxaca old fashioned and the spicy yet-to-be-named one - were both complex and delicious. the spicy one had fresh pepper puree, and every time he opened the bottle of puree, the aroma of pepper oil struck me and had me craving food with peppers.

my gin cocktail - the joy division - was good, but it left the strong unmistakable flavor of absinthe in my mouth... even the next day.

i'm sure i had others, but the reason why i woke up wednesday morning feeling like death & co. is that i overconsumed. which i can imagine is quite simple when you have a talented barman making creative and tasty delights full of booze.

i tried to buffer the booze with some nibbles - the maple pork belly (tasty, but a little stringy) and the oysters rock a fella (delish, but the creamed spinach was too rich, even for me) - but they were no match for my love of cocktails.

death & co. has a great vibe, speakeasy-like... dark, comfortable yet sexy. it would be great for a date, but there are no reservations. there's no standing at the bar. it's built on the milk & honey model, but less strict. and with food.

yes, we should return soon.


death & co.
433 east 6th street btwn Ave A/1st
new york, ny 10009
212/388.0882

in sync

on my flight to Shanghai on monday, i awoke towards the tail-end of the flight to some bells and chimes indicating that there would be an announcement, which was this (slightly paraphrased): "After your long flight, please take a moment to stretch your body." Then on the screen, a video comes on with a full stretching routine. But the best part was the majority of the passengers actually did the stretch! SYNCHRONIZED STRETCHING ON A FLIGHT??? it rocked.

let the games begin!

the S.O. and i bought a Nintendo Wii this weekend. i've played before, and i've heard hilarious stories involving this game, but i was anti-purchasing because i know me and my obsessive tendencies.

i'm a changed girl.

the Wii is addictive, but you have no choice but to stop playing after a little while because it's exhausting! and today, my arms, shoulders, upper back and obliques are sore. i didn't need to go to the gym all weekend because i was running around my living room lunging for those corner shots in Wii tennis. it may not take the place of cardio, but it's far better than sitting on your arse watching tv... which is what i would've been doing. and since i didn't invest in a gym membership this year, the $300 splurge doesn't seem too bad.