Brasserie

The "Catwalk": see and be seen

I had lunch at the Brasserie yesterday with my fellow NY friends, Esther and Sambo.  Redesigned by Diller + Scofidio in the base of the iconic Seagram Building (Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe), it is well known to anyone who's been exposed to the world of architecture and design.

We decided to try the restaurant week menu.  Because Yelp only gave the restaurant 3.5 stars, I went to check it out mainly for the design. It was much smaller than I had imagined, but waiters and patrons were bustling cheerily.

The staff was pretty friendly and they offered to take my coat after checking in.  We were a bit early for our reservation but we still ended up waiting an extra ten minutes.  After we were seated, the waitress came out and brought us a fresh baguette.  It was kind of strange though; she just plunked it on an unused menu... just sitting there on the table with a little wax paper tied around the middle.  If I were the OCD type, I'd freak out, but since I have eaten rats in a refugee camp and perhaps much worse things (according to my older bro), it was nothing to fuss over.

I started out with the Mushroom Veloute (soup), the Braised Spare Rib and the Lemon Tart for dessert.  My favorite part was obviously the lemon tart and creme fraiche.  I've actually made something similar to that myself.  The soup was good, but I have had much better.  The short ribs were cooked to a "fall off the bone" tender perfection, but the flavor was a little off.  Well, it was probably supposed to taste that way, but there was something tart in it... maybe vinegar, and I didn't like that.  It was a waste of some perfectly good meat, in my opinion.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I would have liked it much better without the vinegar taste.

My Lemon Tarte

Sambo's Creme Caramel

Esther's Flourless Chocolate Cake

Overall, the food was not impressive.  Honestly, the food was just OK, and the design was definitely much better than the food. It was as I had expected, so I'm glad I didn't pay full price for a meal there.  

I was probably more excited about the drink menus... no, not the drinks!  The design!  pretty cool, huh?

Burn, Baby, Burn

I was craving some creme brulee this weekend (literally burnt creme in French), so there was no choice but to bring out the blow torch and undust the ramekins sitting in the back of the cupboard.  I'm sharing with you Alton Brown's easy recipe.  It's amazingly simple to make and there really isn't that many ingredients.  If you think of it, creme brulee is just a fancy name for vanilla pudding/custard. :)  So here you go, and burn away!

Preheat oven to 325º

6 medium sized ramekins
1 baking pan that will hold all six ramekins and deep enough to hold water

1 qt heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
6 egg yolks
1 c sugar, divided
2 qt hot water

Scrape the vanilla bean to get the seeds out and add to medium saucepan along with the whole bean.  In the saucepan over medium heat, bring cream and vanilla to a boil.  Cover mixture, let it sit for 15 minutes and strain out the vanilla bean.

In a bowl, beat yolk and 1/2 c sugar until fully incorporated and it turns lighter in color.  Whisk in a little of the cream to the eggs to temper so the eggs don't curdle.  Continue adding cream a little at a time until it is fully mixed.  Pour mixture into ramekins and place into baking pan.  I usually pull out one of the oven racks halfway so I can place the baking pan on it.  Next, pour the hot water into the pan until it comes up the sides of the ramekins halfway.  Bake for 40-45 minutes until the creme brulee is set but still  trembling in the center.  Remove ramekins from pan and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

When ready to serve, remove creme brulee 30 minutes before browning sugar.  Divide the other 1/2 c of sugar equally between the 6 ramekins and spread evenly.  Using a torch, brown the sugar until it forms a crispy layer.  Wait 5 minutes before serving.  If you don't happen to have a torch laying around the house just put the dishes under the broiler for a few minutes.

Garnish with berries, if desired.  I like mine plain just fine :)  Enjoy!