December 2011
29 posts
www.taylorssteakhouse.com
Only I get the linzer though.
21 December
Taylor’s Steak House
What better way to plow towards old age than with some really good beef? Taylor’s Steak House has been in La Canada for quite some time—I could tell by the dark paneled walls and quirky clientele—but this was my first visit. The steak house salad was the perfect small start to a very indulgent meal
To finish the the feast, a homemade semolina cake was partially lit on fire but we consumed it before it consumed us.
As if that wasn’t perfect enough, the follow up was acorn squash custard with sautéed shrooms in sage oil.
19 December
Upper West Side
Festivus has begun! For my birthday, I was treated to a fantastic home cooked meal, starting with pasta, sausage and broccoli.
15 December
Chez Napoleon
They claim that the chef at Chez Napleon is Grand-Mere Marguerite, and judging from the classic French food, this may be true, but when I looked in the kitchen it was the same Central American guys who cook all the meals in New York City. Grand-Mere must have schooled them well. The meal was very French and very perfect, starting with the tomato and anchovy salad.
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10 December
The Woods
Remember Montebello? Well, while we were there, Mimmo explained to us how to make truffle pasta without the aid of a truffle-sniffing pig or a fancy waiter in a vest. Mimmo is from Calabria, so he knows what he’s talking about. I went to my local specialty foods store and purchased some very expensive black truffle oil. Apparently this is the bomb, to be applied...
7 December
Montebello
Montebello has different connotations in different places. In Italian, I believe it means “beautiful mountain.” In Southern California it means “a place where you should lock your doors while driving through quickly” and in New York City, Montebello means “excellent, old-school Northern Italian classic.” Which is way better than...
Sometime in December
Every year I drink a quart of eggnog. It takes a week or two. I drink it a teacup at a time, without brandy, usually for breakfast. This year I saw some new and exciting flavors at the market, so I stepped outside the nog comfort zone and opted for something called “sugar cookie” which tasted like melted ice cream.
Way too sweet, not satisfying in any way, I...
3 December
BXL
Two of the loveliest words in any language are “beer” and “dinner”. They were combined on Saturday at BXL, which is crawling distance from my front door. Four courses, with “beer dinner” spoken in Belgian. We began with appetizers: risotto balls that were soft inside and crunchy outside, a little oyster atop a bed of cucumber, and two slightly...