Pamplona

A couple of weekends ago, I ate at Pamplona, a Spanish restaurant in the Flatiron district. To start, we had the Pan con Tomate with Jamon (pictured below). The bread was toasted nicely and the richness of the tomato combined with the ham reminded me of how good simple things really can be. As my main course, I had the Cochinillo (pictured above), which was confit of suckling pig with green leaf lettuce, shiitake mushrooms and an apple puree. Pork-anything is definitely my weakness and this pork dish was exceptional. The combination of the sweetness of the apple with the saltiness of the pork (especially the skin!) made the dish satisfying down to the last piece. My only qualm was that there wasn't enough sauce on the plate. My girlfriend had a Mahi-Mahi dish (the last picture below) that was good in its own right (I forget what exactly was in it since it was a special that night) - a good mixture of sour and salty, but I think the pork won that night. Simply put, I would order the pork again, but maybe not the Mahi-Mahi.

Overall, I would say that the experience was satisfying, but the service could have used a bit of improvement as there were times when we had to wait for a noticeable amount of time between courses and when trying to reach the attention of the waiters. With that said, I would still recommend going to Pamplona, but just remember to schedule more time for dinner.

Neo-Japanese Cuisine at Ono

Last night, I had dinner with my uncle and cousin at Ono, a neo-Japanase restaurant located in the Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District. My uncle is visiting New York this weekend and he was in the mood for some good Japanese and was fine spending a pretty penny to get some (needless to say, I couldn't get a table at Morimoto on such late notice). Although definitely not for the budget conscious, Ono delivered a memorable meal which I would be more than happy to have again.

The concept of the restaurant is "family-style" eating with dishes placed in the center of the table for diners to share. I personally enjoy eating this way more as you get to try a lot more dishes, and as we were taught when we were little - everyone has more fun when you share. Highlights of the meal included Spicy Crab Pizza with avocado, radish sprouts and red miso, Duck and Lychee Robata (basically pieces of duck breast and lychee skewered and grilled - the combination of the saltiness from the duck and intense sweetness from the lychee was surprisingly satisfying), and Garlic Rubbed Whole Sea bass with black beans and peppercress. However, the definite star of the meal was the Togarashi-crusted Rib Eye, a 28 oz dry aged piece of Wagyu (Kobe) beef served with a red wine teryaki sauce (seen above - yes, you can start drooling if you already haven't). 

More pictures below...

Belly Blabber Begins

I've been playing around with the idea of starting a blog for some time, but I just couldn't think of anything that I really wanted to talk about on a regular basis. Then I figured I might as well write about one thing that I love talking about... FOOD! Also, it gives me a perfectly good reason to eat out and try new places more often.

Let's make one thing clear though... The main reason I am starting Belly Blabber is for fun. I don't pretend to be a serious food critic, nor have I had any culinary training. If you want a more serious or profound interpretation of the food happenings in New York, my two favorite blogs are Serious Eats and New York Magazine's Grub Street. If you just want to hear what a normal guy living in New York City, a year or so out of college and working with limited funds has to say, then hopefully you will enjoy my ramblings. I am not sure how often I'll be able to update, but my goal is to have something interesting to say at least once a week. Let me know if there is anything you would like to suggest in terms of topics. Happy eating!