New Years Eve Dinner 2016 at Duexave

FINALLY I’m GONNA POST THIS!!!!!!!!!

So I’ve been backlogged… I have half written blogs up all in this shizz and it doesn’t seem to be coming out (ha! – Sorry dirty mind!) I keep having ideas and then writer’s block… my current obsession with watching Frozen and Tangled and seeing their soundtrack 24/7 isn’t helping either… haha “hashtag dork”… and I also started obsessing (yeah a few seasons… like 6, late) with 2 Broke Girl$ (hastag ILOVEMAXSHEISMYHERO) so yeah.  Work, Disney, iTunes is ruining me…. in a wonderful way.

So let’s catch up on 2017… Let’s start off with my last night of it…. NYE 2016 :) which sadly I had a stomach bug so I threw up all night with my date.  Which was funny cuz my date and I went to watch college football first, and me being over-underdressed  puked a few times at the bar.  My stomach finally calmed down on the way to Deuxave (owned and cooked by one of favorite chefs Chef Christopher Coombs) And while I was being careful with my tender tummy… I am NOT about to throw up any good food… I didn’t eat my usual overstuffed way, but all the food was amazing!!!! I haven’t been in forever!!!

We started off with delicious warm sourdough (great crust and fluffy middle) with a ribboned creamy butter.

Funny story [sidenote] about sourdough bread.  This total bully that lived across the street from me when I was a kid in New Mexico, LOVED sourdough bread. I played with her because 1. She lived across the street from me. 2. She was a bully. 3. She had no friends. 4. I am overly nice even though she did horrible things to me…. etc. etc. ANYWAYS, she loved it, I hated it and she even held it against me. She also forced me to watch Child’s Play which I ran home crying after. I was like 7. Bitch. Her, not me. She also grabbed my arm and bit it once because I said I didn’t want to play with her anymore… #whyineedtherapy [/sidenote]

Then came the complimentary amuse bouches…. All topped with microgreens!!!…

Crap, I forgot what these balls were.. they were fried balls of yumminess though… I think it was crab… When in doubt just shove it all in your mouth (ha!) when in a spoon… especially if shaped in little balls (double ha!)

Some Creamy Lobster Bisque. (HA! The lady next to us even asked for spoons… LOL duh you sip it, it’s a tiny little cup… and if anything just freaking eat your balls and use that spoon… LOLOL.. she complained a lot all night LOLOL!) Anyways.. tasty, thick and rich.

And some duck liver terrine with pomegranate seeds on cute little crostini…. I could never turn down anything duck liver… or things on a crostini.  I admit it. I love the trend… it shall never grow old… anything on toasted bread (preferably buttery… even more buttery and garlicky) will forever be delicious!!!!!

For appetizers (thankfully my date was happy to go with my (get two of everything we would eat so we can try more foods) we got the Wagyu Beef Tartare with Forbidden Rice Chips, Green Papaya Salad, Avocado Puree and Crispy Shallots!

And the Hamachi Crudo with Fennel Dill, Pickled Shallots, Rye Crisps and Smoked Aioli… which is fresh and delicious…. simple and perfect! And gorgeously plated…. and oh oh oh how I love the roe :] Roe roe roe!!!

And then came the seafood plates!  With Seared Nantucket Bay Scallops with Maitake & Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Brodo, Fines Herbs and a Chili Oil….. hehe I always love when they table side pour for you… I had to whip out the camera in time to catch it in action.

Look at those beautiful cute things.  Now, date doesn’t do seafood, but he did for me :] And liked it!!!! —- Although he did pass on the hamachi crudo… still need to ease him into sushi…. (bad experience, supposedly)

And obviously anything with pork belly.. am I right?  Crispy Spanish Octopus(sy) & Pork Belly with Chorizo, Choucroute, Potato, Parsley and Aiji Amarillo.  Octopus on point with crispy ends… and a melt in your mouth pork belly :] NOM!

And then comes our main courses!!!!! Which contained the highlight of the night… Prime Beef Tenderloin & Perigord Black Truffles with Egg Yolk Raviolo, Celery Root and Bordelaise.

This Raviolo was the dish I was waiting the whole night for, especially since Chef Chris posted the instagram online.  Yeah, you should follow his instagram.  I stalk it religiously for amazing food porn and cute baby pics :]

Spiced Long Island Duck Breast & Housemade Sausage with Romanesco, Baby Shitake Mushrooms, Foie Gras & Cipollini Vintrigrette and Persimmon.

Perfectly cooked and I adored the small chunks of all the foie and sausage.  It didn’t overwhelm and the duck was amazing.  You know I’m a duck girl, if there is duck on the menu, I am sure to get it.

We were nearing close to midnight……..

We got complimentary bites nibbles whilst waiting for our desserts…. nervously so, since it was nearing midnight.  They weren’t a hit…. Not to be a party pooper but the other customers around us didn’t seem to enjoy them either…..

And the desserts came…..

“Cafe Chocolate” with Coffee Biscuit, Cardamom Cremux, Caramelized Vanilla Glace…. Super yummy!!!!!!!!…. I loveeeee cardamom in sweet desserts…!!!!

And I, being a lover of Chestnuts, I picked “Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire” with Chestnut Cream, Vanilla Meringue, Kalamansi and Banana Glace.  The Ice cream was delicious but unfortunately the citrus inside the ball was just way overpowering so I ended up getting no chestnut flavor. :[

We sipped on glasses of a delicious Rose bubbly the whole night and had such delightful conversations… (I think I might be a bit loud and embarrassing to him) —-and even got to chat with my buddy, Chef Chris for a bit [yes! Hang soon! And I’ll be in for the waffles & foie ASAP]… unfortunately we were rushing to our venue at the W Hotel to countdown to the New Years so I couldn’t squeeze in a pic with him :[ WAA WAA… It’s okay… it’s not like I’m far from this place.  Adore this place!!!!!

 

Eat Thai til you Burst at 雲南小鎮 in Taipei

For just 469NT – like 16$ each – you can eat anything and everything off the menu til you burst… or you can order a la cart, at 雲南小鎮 ummmm…. obviously I’m gonna all you can eat DUH…. the hotel I stay at made me and my mama a reservation so we got a discount and got first priority. HOLLA.

This is literally right down the street from our hotel….. YUM.

Free soda/drinks and a small fruit.salad bar.

Papaya Salad.

Stir fried spicy Loofah… we got this twice.

Tiny Shrimp [虾皮] with Kong Xin Cai [空心菜] – Water Spinach…. which is basically a hollow stemmed spinach like chinese veg. One of my favorite greens ever… We actually ended up ordering this about 3x.

Red Curry Chicken…

I love Red Curry but for some reason it just didn’t hit it in the head… which doesn’t really matter… since all the other food was amazing…

Freshly steamed fish with cilantro, chilies, lemongrass, sweet and sour and just super super super fresh!!!!

Spicy Boiled Chicken

Spicy Eggplant

Thank you for finally giving me some authentic and delicious Thai food…. 

Julia Child’s Kitchen + PS7’s

We food-lovers recently celebrated Julia Child’s Happy 100th!!.. She’s an inspiration to the food industry and puts a smile on everyone’s face…. so I was excited when W and I headed over to the National Museum of American History to see her kitchen

After a fun day at the museum and checking out other exhibits.. we were HANNNNNGRY!!!! So we headed over to PS7‘s [after a long time contemplating eating ice cream bars outside of the museum]… W’s old joint, to satisfy my burger craving – the last time I was here I got the hot dogs, but since I JUST ate some the other day, BURGER for me.

Spicy Popcorn <3

Addicted to these. We got refills while we waited for our food – I even ate it WITH my food.

Pull Apart Pork Sticky Buns 
sweet dough, pork confit, brown sugar spice glaze

THESE are soooo good.. it’s like eating meat for dessert. It’s sweet, savory, UGH AMAZING.  Not too sauced and nice bite of scallion on top was great. Crunch crunch. My love for all these stinky sorts of onions, I’d put more atop the buns.

W got his favorite, the  “Primanti Brothers” sandwich
a creative spin on the Pittsburgh favorite, with soppressata,  pepper slaw, fried egg, provolone and topped with French Fries

DELICIOUS!!!  W got it with double fried eggs. SOOO good..  I stole a few bites :D NOM. Everything inbetween two pieces of bread = perfection!

And I got the Chef’s Choice burger

house cured bacon, fried egg, gruyere and roasted tomatoes

All washed down with a few glasses of rose champagne. OMG it was soooo good. Burger cooked perfectly.. just had a bit of trouble with the buns… the bottom one got soggy and melted away…

It was messy but all of this went into my belly…

Julia Child’s AND a delicious burger? I love my life…

Hahaha bugaboooooo

Sorry I had to.

The Morning After… at Wagamama & SAVORY FROYO at PINKBERRY!!!

Okay, fine. It was the AFTERNOON after.  We didn’t really drink close to enough to be hungover but WHY NOT eat for it? W and I slept in, obviously, but A worked so she met up with us for lunch….. we were gonna head to Cafeteria [MMM Mac&Cheese]… but it was kinda crappy out and W wasn’t feeling well [and had to buy pants!] so we went to Wagamama. MMMM, always a tasty noodly treat.

After going back and forth between a lot of items… we chose.

A got the  Veggie Itame – rice noodles in a spicy green coconut and lemongrass soup topped with stir-fried chicken breast or fried tofu, beansprouts, chillies, red onions, scallions, bok choy, peppers and mushrooms. garnished with cilantro and lime

She let me have a slurp and it was tasty!!!!  I find coconut broths to be heavy but this was pretty good.  Altho fav one would still have to be from Urban Belly. Anyways.  You dont miss the meat at all.

ONE COMPLAINT: They served A’s dish to someone else… next to us.. apparently they always eff up orders here.. it’s good but srsly?! And then “rushed” the re-order but she got hers sooooo long after ours. UGH. Annoying.

I got the Chicken Chili Ramen – spicy broth and ramen noodles topped with fresh chilies, red onion, bean sprouts, cilantro, scallion and a wedge of lime

And W got the same as me but with grilled steak. I should’ve gotten steak :[ My chicken SUCKED and I only had like 1.5 pieces.  But I added a lot of shichimi 七味唐辛子, “seven flavor chili pepper”  in it and made it even spicier.  My nose got sweaty.  They also have soy sauce and chili oil for condiments.

After our bellies were full… A and I hurried over to Pinkberry, right next to Wagamama.. at first W resisted but he gave in and got a cup of froyo too.  BUT, OMG, they have SAVORY toppings now?!?!?!

Yep, those are diced peppers, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers and basil….

Since we’re curious we got given samples.  I tried the cucumber, pepper, EVOO and a tasty spice.. maybe paprika?!  And a salty sunflower cracker.  A had the one with olives, pesto, tomato and another cracker :]  It’s actually served with their Greek Yogurt and was surprisingly really tasty.  *cue W’s face squishing in disgust* hahaha…

I ended up with this tho, sweet for me !!!
Half strawberry, half salted caramel with mangoes and raspberries!

DEEEEEEEEEELISH!

After shopping around a bit and relaxing W went to prep for the dinner and I did a little work.. and by little I mean little… cuz soon I was dressed and ready to head out for drinks and dinner with the chefs.

When I finally got to shake Ken Oringer’s hand, I may have a giggled one too many times. OOPS. These may have been to blame.  I had a champagne cocktail, some of W’s drink and this tequila/jalapeno smokey drink [with mango ice cube YUM].

We ended up not eating dinner with the chefs, just had a few drinks and then W and I went to O Sushi for a delicious sushi/sashimi dinner.

It was the first time I had their Hamachi Kama – only disappointment was this Tako [octopus] dish that was just salmon and octopus chopped in cubes with cubed tomatoes and cuc and etc… meh.  But Hamachi Kama had crispy skin and juicy moist meat. YUM – I had a delicious Lychee Saketini along with the meal as well :] NOM!  They give you a shaker full so you get about two martini glasses!!!

Dinner and some Movies… Ps7 + Japanese Fest

After a delicious, and relaxing, afternoon…. feels like I’ve been here forever already…. we started planning for dinner and a movie marathon with B.

We were originally going to meet up with B at Graffiato… [I had dreams of burrata and pizza while we rode in the taxi] but B got there first and said it was PACKEDDDDD.. so since we were on a schedule to see movies… we made a quick change of plans and headed to PS7 – another place W used to work at.

Settled in at the corner of the bar, nice and comfy, I had some bubbly, B got some beer.. and W.. kept getting really bad coke.. but it’s okay, he finally got a nice good glass LOL.

Talk. Drink. Order. EAT!!!

We totally didn’t order this, or at least I don’t remember ordering it, but they brought some over, weeeeeeee.. I definitely remember reading about them on the menu and having my tummy gurgle…

Pull Apart Pork Sticky Buns

Sweet Dough with Pork Confit and Brown Sugar Spice Glaze

SOOO FREAKING GOOD.. I could’ve eaten a TUB of them… they were like dessert with MEAT!!! Sweet, sticky and amazing.  Orgasmically so… I’d totally have them for a meaty, slightly savory, dessert. MMMMMMMMM, I love my piggie, this just totally one-upped the pork cupcakes – which was also amazing, but def not desserty like this.

Fried Cheesy Goodness..

I don’t remember exactly what they were called.. cheese spring rolls? Some sort of new take on mozz sticks? They were goat cheese and black outside?! I totally forget #lame… maybe cuz I didn’t have one – I SUCK. But it was goat cheese.. and I wasn’t in the mood for any LOL…

I did want to try the chicken & waffles…. but was afraid that I couldn’t finish.. good thing I didn’t order a ton of the yummy looking apps too, cuz my entree was HUGE. Lots of must-try’s tho next time I’m there.

OK, on to the entrees, funnily enough we all got SAMMYS.. well sorts of…

B got the OMFG Dip

porchetta, caramelized onions, gruyere, country bread, smoked jus

He let me have a bite. DELICIOUS jus…. crunchy chewy bread, AMMMMAAAZING innards.. MMM meaty and delicious. This was SOOOO GOOOD…. may get this next time I come :]

W got the “Primanti Brothers” Special
Apparently he ALWAYS gets this.. teehee

soppressata, fried egg, provolone, pepper slaw, french fries on fresh sourdough

THIS WAS SO GOOD. It’s basically everything and the kitchen sink… with shoe-string fries OMG… AMAZING… :]

And by W’s suggestion AND the waiter’s super thumbs up – he said he eats these ALL the time – I got HOT DOOOOOOOGS

The Peoples Half Smoke

house made half smoke, white veal chili, aged cheddar cheese, dijon mustard

THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY. I haven’t had a hot dog in awhile and have been craving….. so when W and the waiter suggested… OF COURSE I said YESSSSSSSS…. the Chili was SOOOO GOOD… I could eat a TUBS of this chili… OMG it was SOOOOO GOOOOOOD…. a hint of heat, super meaty and full of flavor… no wonder I passed out for a few minutes during the first movie during our marathon.. I smothered the spicy mustard on the yummy hot dogs OMG and INHALED!!! the bread was a bit thicker than my liking but still super tasty.

The movie theatre we went to actually sold alcohol.. and not only glasses of beer, wine and liquor  BUT… BOTTLES, yes FULL BOTTLES of wine.

Cashier: What wine would you like?
Me: THE CHEAPEST WHITE WINE… MAD GHETTO YOOOOO

Hahaha also got TONS of candyyyyyy

This is what happened when you drink before and during a movie marathon in the middle of the night…

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Beautiful. Must watch again and then own. Made me crave sushi like BADDDD….

Next up was the midnight showing of THIS…  f*ck the Hunger Games, it’s all about Battle Royale. OG Bitches!