DICS Does Michael Mina

Tonight DICS dined at the very famous Restaurant Michael Mina located in the Westin St Francis on Union Square. To say the least, our expectations for the restaurant were very low considering we knew how pricey the menu was, and I think all of us expected to be let down, at least in some fashion. (If this is not foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.)

The night was off to a poor start when I entered the restaurant. I found Julie, Jessica, and Jeremy all huddled around a small cocktail table sipping on various fruity drinks. That includes Jeremy who was drinking something to the kin of grenadine and vodka. As soon as I sat down, each person at the table quickly described how bad their drink was. In fact, Jessica begged me for the next 15 minutes to help her finish it off. However, the drinks did do the trick as Jessica and Julie were quite toasty before we even ordered.

We were then seated and given our menus. Once we had our menus in hand, we quickly understood what made this restaurant so unique. It is a prefixed menu with three courses, however, each course is prepared in three different ways. So, it meant that in reality each person was able to get 9 different unique tastes throughout the evening. After we ordered, we started with a bottle of La Reve Sparkling White Wine from Domain Carneros and we were promptly presented with a special amuse-bouche; soft-shelled crab prepared in three different ways (in keeping with the general theme). There was a buttery smooth bisque, a bite sized piece of tempura fried crab, and a crab cake prepared with hummus. Each was very impressive.

At the same time we were presented with hot rolls and “the best better I’ve ever had” according to Julie on our own little butter plate. The waiter appeared a few minutes later with our appetizers. Julie and I both had the lobster and artichoke dish while Jessica and Jeremy both had the foie gras. The lobster was prepared in three different ways with an additional small lobster tail. The highlight for both Julie and I was the single tortelloni, which, when I bit into it, I said “This is the best taste I've ever tasted.” Julie followed with “I had a special moment just now.”

Jeremy and Jessica both said that it was the best foie gras they had ever eaten. We then moved on to our main course and opened up a 2003 Rochioli Pinot Noir. Jessica and Jeremy both had the lamb. It was presented medium rare with three distinctly different sauces, and during her main course Jessica remarked that is was “Heaven on a plate.” Julie had the “Three Little Pigs” which was a sampling of pork loin, ribs, and pork belly. At one point Julie leaned back on the couch to take a break and uttered “I'm a little warm right now.” At about the same time Jeremy picked it up a notch with this quote: “I am about as likely to go dancing as I am to lick the pork fat off of Julie’s plate.”

We then moved on to dessert that was, to say the least, epic. Julie and Jessica split the cheese plate and chocolate deserts. The cheese plate was a series of three different medium hard cheeses from a sheep, cow and goat. They were each paired with fruity morsels of deliciousness according to Julie. The chocolate dessert, which I also had, was a composition of chocolate mousse, ganache, and a molten lava cake. Hands down the scrumptuously melting chocolate combined with the chocolate ice cream was off the hook. The ganache paired with Jasmine Tea ice cream was certainly the weak link in the group because it seemed to be very dry and not had little flavor. However, the mousse made up for it along with the walnut flavored ice cream that was seated next to it. Jeremy’s tummy was “owwie” at this point in the night and we really considered kicking him out of DICS because he couldn’t hang. “I’ve never been so wrecked by a meal,” was Jeremy’s thought just before he started his dessert, the Citrus Plate, of which he only finished half.

At this point we figured we were done. However, we were presented with a final treat, a series of bon bons. The pear sorbet encrusted in chocolate and thinly sliced candied puffed rice was outstanding, although it was not out done by the strawberry ice cream prepared in the same fashion.

All of us agreed that Michael Mina was better food and a more enjoyable restaurant than any other restaurant we’d been to in the city, including Gary Danko and Quince. In fact, we’d go so far as to say the Michael kicked Gary’s ass. Till next time,

The DICS

DICS goes to Gary Danko

We finally had our long-awaited thrice-postponed trip to Gary Danko, the most gourmet DICS outing yet (or at least we hoped it would be). We arrived feeling celebratory, and decided to have a glass of the delicious-looking pink bubbly that other loitering patrons were enjoying. When our server presented us with two confusing-sounding French champagne options, we tried our best to look like we knew what we were talking about, and ordered the rose. That ended up being a $32 per glass lesson in being comfortable looking ignorant (but damn, it was good!).

Julie, Jeremy and I started with the foie gras, which was slightly disappointing given what Julie described as the liver-like veins running through her too-large piece. Brian went with the lobster risotto, which we all agreed was cheesy goodness. Second course was lobster with morel mushrooms, which was definitely my favorite and Julie's, who licked her plate clean...literally.

Dessert was slightly underwhelming, but probably because I had built up the cheese cart to godlike status and was only allowed to try four kinds instead of all twenty-six. The souffle everyone else ordered looked amazing but I've decided I'm more of a molten chocolate cake gal - the richer, the better. All in all, definitely a worthwhile trip and even better company. Satisfied BK?

DICS in India

My dearest DICS,

I blog to you from India, where I have been indulging in several weeks of extreme over-eating. I did not realize that I loved Indian food this much, but I have been eating it for 2 weeks straight, and still want more.

Sadly, I must report that last night I encountered the first restaurant that really defeated me. SeaRudie, you will be pleased to hear that it was your favorite, Angeethi in Hyderabad, that did the honors. Their spicy chicken and veggie kabobs were so delicious, that I kept eating them regardless of the fact that they were dissolving my stomach lining. Let's just say I paid the price today. But would I do it again next time? Absolutely!

As for my favorite meal so far? That award definitely goes to Woody's in Bangalore. It was there that I got my first meal of traditionally South Indian foods. I had the extra spicy ravi masala dosa and my favorite, channa bhatura, with extra-deep-fried bhatura. It was definitely a 10-napkin meal, although that is not unusual here, given that the napkins are super flimsy and don't seem to actually absorb anything. However, at Woody's I felt the unbridled joy of real value: my meal cost me a total of $2. With those kinds of prices, I decided to treat the whole table of 4, for a whopping total of $9.

DICS, let's please take a moment to acknowledge the culinary prowess of India. I don't know of anywhere else where you can buy this much happiness for $2, or so thoroughly enjoy the pain of your insides burning up.

the front porch stinks

I never say no to fried chicken, so when the BF suggested that we try out Front Porch, I said OK within about 0.25 seconds. You see, I have been hearing buzz about the fried chicken at front porch, and it seemed everyone was talking about this place. Of course I had to try it out and give it the real DICS test!

So first of all, you have to walk through an outdoor table area (the front porch, I'm guessing) to get into the restaurant, and this area smells crazy like an incense shop in the Haight. Ugh. Secondly, this place is UBER-hipster: dark, wierd decor, wait staff dressed in costumes from Buffalo Exchange. Thirdly, wind rushes into the dining area every time the front door is opened. Lastly, the signature fried chicken was not only nothing to write home about, but I would go so far as to say that it was kinda bad.

The lowdown on the chicken:
I was excited when they served it to us in a paper bucket, but eating it was not so fun. It was hella greasy. That's right, hella. All the good crispy coating slid right off the skin and landed in crumbly heaps on our plates. The bigger pieces of chicken were totally bloody in the middle, which is good when it's steak, but somehow not so good when it's chicken. Also, there were no white meat pieces at all. Just a bunch of wings, thighs and drumsticks. I understand that some people feel that dark meat is juicier and whatnot, but a good chef can whip up some mighty fine deep fried chicken breasts. And when you're getting a bucket of chicken for 29 dollars, and all that's in there are the cheap pieces, a girl can feel a little cheated.

Lastly, on the accoutrements:
The the drinks were decent, although of course they had to be all weird and obscure in order to be hip enough. The fries were tasty except that the amount of salt on them was burning my tongue. The grits were I guess about as good as you can make grits, which is still just about in the mediocre category for me.

So, this DICS member's opinion:
Definitely don't go here for the fried chicken. If you like getting chicken in a bucket, stick to Popeye's where it is like 5 bucks. And definitely don't sit out on the front porch, because it really stinks.