Meal Deal- Lawry's

Through the end of October Lawry's is celebrating the 35th Anniversary of their Chicago restaurant.

Mention the $35 Anniversary Dinner to your server.

MENU

Lawry's Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad

Special 8oz cut of Lawry’s Prime Ribs of Beef

Served with mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, or

Fresh Atlantic Salmon

Served with seasonal vegetables

Petit English Trifle or

C.C. Brown's Small Sundae

Served with freshly brewed coffee or tea

Lawry's takes reservations on Open Table.

Providence

Date:

Dining Companion: Courtney P.

I've wanted to go to Providence for a while but one bad review from a friend kept me away these long years. Finally, watching head chef Michael Cimarusti on Top Chef: Masters renewed my interest and we set out for dinner.

What a lovely meal. First off, the decor is lovely. Considering that it is a seafood heavy menu you might expect some cheesy nautical theme, but there was none. The decor was beautiful, tasteful, and had some semblance of being related to the ocean in a subtle way.

The service was excellent. Some restaurants sneer at people sharing dishes which I find ridiculous. How else can you try that many things on the menu??? Not only did they not sneer, they split the dishes for us and made them look artistic and beautiful on their own. That was amazing.

We started off the meal with a selection of amuse bouches. Is there a plural for amuse bouche? :) It contained a variety of interesting little nibbles from the chef. I liked all of them.

We shared the King Crab appetizer and the "chowda" for appetizers. The King Crab with fresh peas and crispy soba was phenomenal. Light, fresh, and very tasty. The "chowda" was a bit heavier. It was a rich creamy broth with clams and potato floating around in it.

The halibut entree included one of my "must-order" items- a zucchini flower!! Fried to perfection. Not overly breaded just light and crispy! Halibut can be a bit dry if not cooked right. This was so moist! It was a beautiful perfect clean white and was moist and delicious to eat. The layers flaked off exactly as they should and the sauce and vegetables were a welcome accompaniment.

One dish I wish we would have tried- salt roasted spot prawns. The woman next to us got them and they looked delicious. They are prepared tableside and taken out of the shell so that they are easily eaten. Yum. I asked the woman about the dish and she said she gets it all the time.

For dessert we split an interesting dish that had ice cream made out of a Parisian pastry blended up- a canele. It was amazing.

The menu is seasonal and they focus on using what is fresh so the menu will vary from time to time but everything we had was amazing so I would expect that to carry over from season to season.

Michael Cimarusti didn't win Top Chef. Who cares? He got a Michelin rating!!!

www.providencela.com

5955 Melrose Avenue

Cooking Event- Williams Sonoma

Here's the October schedule

http://edm.williams-sonoma.com/ws/2009/noimage/octcalendar09-2-US.html?bnrid=3101527&cm_ven=E3&cm_cat=EDM&cm_pla=090527_Demo&cm_ite=cta_cal&cm_em=ashleyattorney@aol.com

Magnolia Bakery (NY)

What is a trip to NY without a visit to Magnolia Bakery?

Even though the LA Magnolia outpost should be open soon, I couldn't resist the chance to sneak one of their treats this week. So I went on my first day in NY. And I may go again.

I was surprised to find that there were two other locations in addition to the Bleecker Street location I was familiar with. Apparently, there is one 4 blocks from where I am staying. Danger! Danger!

Last night, we stopped off at the Columbus Street location. I had a chocolate cupcake with their sugary seafoam green icing. Crys had the miniature chocolate pudding pie- soooo cute! I finished my cupcake and glass of milk in record time in their cute shabby-chic style dining area.

The store also sells the Magnolia Bakery cookbook which I have never made anything out of but my friend Esther made me the cupcakes once for my birthday and dare I say that they were just as good as the actual bakery. I highly recommend the bakery...and the cookbook!!!

STK

Date:

Dining Companion: Courtney P.

Craftsteak- NYC (NY)

Date: 9-28-09

Dining Companion: Crys C.

Another opportunity to visit a Tom Colicchio restaurant! I've been to Craft- NY, Craft- LA, Craftbar....but now it was time for craftsteak (they don't capitalize it, why should I??). Craftsteak's menu was reminiscent of Craft's but more like a steakhouse. Craftsteak also has a location in Las Vegas (MGM Grand Hotel). We started the meal with an amuse bouche of pita crisps with a salad made of garbanzo beans, pickled jalapenos, and sorpressata. I don't particularly love whole garbanzo beans or jalapenos but I really enjoyed this which speaks volumes for the dish. Crys can't eat beans (allergic) so I ate the whole thing. We also got a pan of little Parkerhouse rolls- classic steakhouse fare.

Our first dish of the night was from the raw bar. The menu offers both clams and oysters. We chose Littleneck clams ($3 apiece). The clams were fresh, well prepared, and accompanied by tasty condiments including a mignonette sauce that was not overpowering.

Then we shared the bone marrow and steak tartare. The bone marrow was nice but a bit fatty for my taste. It came out to the table in a beautiful presentation showing how it was salt roasted. The baguette slices that accompanied it were perfectly toasted- crispy but not hard.

Th steak tartare was a wagyu beef diced with some spices and a raw egg yolk atop. It came with cross cut potato chips. I enjoyed this dish but found the potato chips to be a bit too salty and little over fried. It's a good dish but I would have preferred the chips to be a little less "done".

Then we shared a filet mignon ($40). The filet mignon, we were informed, and the other steaks are prepared in a parisian style by searing, then roasting them with thyme and butter and ladling the butter atop until the steak is cooked, and then it would be sliced before it was brought to us. The steak came to us a perfect medium rare (making Crys very happy) accompanied by four dipping sauces. Crys likes her steak naked. I do too, but I also loooooove sauces, so the steak ended up being my vehicle to taste the sauces- tamarind (nice, like a sweet complex steak sauce), chimichurri (not my favorite), horseradish (decent), and bernaise (fabulous). I didn't love the way the filet was sliced- it was kind of messy. But it still tasted good. I would have preferred neat slices.

We also shared a rather large side order of gnocchi. The gnocchi were light and fluffy perfect cylindrical tubes accompanied by a buttery creamy sauce (more butter than anything else) and a light sprinkling of chives.

The decor in the restaurant was beautiful and tasteful. The low lighting and artwork enhanced the dining experience. The service was friendly and prompt. And, on our way out we got scones for the next morning's breakfast. I think I am gong to eat mine right now....

Craftsteak

85 Tenth Avenue

New York, NY 10011

www.craftsteaknyc.com

Top Chef Sightings

Day one in NYC I already saw Miguel and Andrew from Top Chef!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!