Tree

Tonight my roommates and I decided to go to a restaurant that I've been aching to try - mostly because of it's awesome name: Tree. The place is located on 1st Ave between 11th and 12th streets, and although the interior is pretty small, they have a nice garden seating area (which we peeked at, but decided that air conditions was more appealing than nice scenery).

I started off with the French onion soup, which had gruyere cheese and toasted whole-wheat crutons. The beef broth had a nice flavor, but there were a tad too many onions, and some random stiff leaves (I'm sure it was some sort of herb, but I couldn't figure out WHAT exactly... and then when I accidentally chewed into some, I decided to call it quits). It was one of those dishes where the first half a dozen bites were REALLY good, but then it became a struggle to finish.

Daniella decided to try their soup de jour, which tonight was cream of asparagus with creme fraiche. Her assessment: "It was alright..." I didn't personally try it, so I have nothing useful to add besides the fact that I LOVE creme fraiche!!!

For entrees, both Anna and I ordered the duck, which consisted of a crispy leg confit, sweet onions and rosemary, cherry tomatoes, and garlic gnocchi. I personally thought the duck confit was a bit overcooked and on the dry side, while Anna enjoyed the texture but thought it was too salty.

Jenny ordered the salmon tartare (normally under the category of appetizers) which was accompanied by a small amount of mixed green salad and two slices of dijon baguette.

Daniella opted for the grilled salmon, which came on a bed of sauteed spinach, with roasted fingerling potatoes and a mint lemon butter sauce. She also felt that the chef was a little too liberal with the salt. (I apologize for the quality of the picture: after we arrived it got progressively darker and darker, and despite increases in ISO and minimizing the aperture on my camera, the crispness of my photos still suffered)

In the end, it was decided that the atmosphere of the restaurant was much better than the quality of the food. It was cozy with interesting decor (next to our table was a sewing machine drenched in melted wax - melted wax being a common theme, although not well demonstrated in my pictures). The service was friendly and although the food took a while to arrive, the staff was attentive without being stifling.

Overall rating: 6/10

Tree
190 1st Ave
New York, NY 10009

Cong ly

Photos from another excursion to Chinatown: this time we visited a Vietnamese pho restaurant - run by Chinese people. But then lots of the Mexican restaurants in our neighborhood are also run by Chinese people... so not so unexpected I guess. Dude - my people will one day rule the world!!! (Cue the manic laughter) Muahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Anyway, I ordered the Bun Nem Nuong = grilled pork meatballs on rice vermicelli

Jenn ordered the Bun Thit Heo Nuong = grilled pork strips on rice vermicelli

Tiff (crazy lady) ordered the Pho Bo Lui = grilled beef noodle soup (yes, she ordered hot noodle soup on a day when it was over 90 degrees outside)

The restaurant was tiny, and started getting packed as we were finishing our meal - testament to it's popularity I guess. The food was on par with other Vietnamese restaurants that I've been to in Chinatown (which means it was pretty good, though not amazing) but it's in a slightly less obvious location (on Hester street). On the way we came across this:

Overall rating: 5/10

Spot Dessert Bar

As a kid I was pretty deprived - deprived of sugar. My mom used to be one of those crazy Chinese ladies that would lecture us about how bad candy is for the teeth. On Halloween she would allow us to trick-or-treat, but would then confiscate our candies and give them away to the other kids in the neighborhood.

Needless to say, once I left for school and became the boss of my own diet, I decided to catch up with what I'd been missing out on. Luckily for me, New York offers a billion ways to get a sugar-fix. I'm not actually a big fan of candy, but when it comes to pastries and desserts, it's usually love at first sight.

My most recent dessert-run was with my buddy Dave who's pretty in-tune with the food scene here in the city. He suggested a place on St. Marks Pl called Spot which happens to be known for it's fantastic cupcakes but also offers seasonal "dessert tapas." Although Dave highly recommended the Matcha (Japanese green tea) cupcake, everyone at the surrounding tables were eating the tapas - and they looked insanely good.

As there were 3 of us, we decided to order 3 tapas for $20. I chose the Avocado Parfait which didn't actually end up looking like a parfait. It came on a plate rather than on a glass and there were no layers. It consisted of 3 scoops of avocado ice cream separated by 2 chili cocoa crackers, as well as a small scoop of citrus foam and 3 thin slices of avocado garnished with a small sprinkling of sea salt. The avocado ice cream was ok - avocado has a very mild flavor to begin with, so I was worried that it would be difficult to appreciate when in ice cream (the taste of sweet could easily overwhelm it). However, this wasn't a problem in our case. The citrus foam was powerful in flavor and tasted exactly like kumquat. The crackers were probably my favorite part - the spiciness was stronger than what you get from a ginger cookie, but similar in quality.

Daniella chose the Yuzu Eskimo, which consisted of a citrus mousse concoction on oreo crust accompanied by strawberries and little chocolate balls on a mound of oreo crumbs. I liked the texture of the citrus mousse, and it was less sour than the citrus foam in the avocado parfait. In all though, the dish was not anything special.

My favorite was Dave's choice: the Chocolate Marquis. This was a bar of chocolate mousse on a bed of mango tapioca , a scoop of Yakult (Japanese product that is a mix between milk and yogurt) ice cream, and several small chocolate brownie pieces. The mango tapioca was the best thing I had all night, and the chocolate was a great flavor pairing.

For those of you that are not familiar with Yakult, I'm attaching a picture:

Overall rating: 7/10 (although I think the Chocolate Marquis deserved at least a 9)