Milk Street Cafe

The famed Milk Street Cafe of Boston has found a new home on Wall Street. Keeping Bostonian vegetarians fed and happy was not enough – they have now opened in New York and added catering to their bag of tricks.

The Cutlery were recently invited to a press party to celebrate the opening of Milk Street.

As you walk into the new Wall Street location, you are hit with the size of the space. There are at least 10 different food stations to choose from ranging from sushi to rotisserie.

While not strictly vegetarian anymore, they do keep things very separate for vegetarians and carnivores. For example, there are 2 salad stations – the Bull Market and the Farmer’s Market.

While touring Milk Street we were treated to a peek into their kitchens, which are gigantic.  And again, everything kept very separate.

One of the draws of Milk Street is the ability for people to go out to lunch together and be able to eat nearly anything they want. The dining area is lovely, though slightly disjointed in decor. Their fabulous logo is across the long wall. Very bright and cheery. Then on one short wall is a bronze waterfall, the other short wall a frosted glass something.

While we were there, we met a lot of the staff and were treated to a few of the dishes that would be available once Milk Street opened full time. THe gals making the smoothies were adorable, helpful and knowledgable about what they were serving.

While in the kitchen, we watched the chefs preparing spring rolls with dipping sauce and pan fried noodles with vegetables. we also tasted risotto with spring peas and pea puree. Both of which were very good, if not awkward to eat standing in a crowded room!

All in all, I think there is a definite need on Wall Street for Milk Street and wish them all the success in the future.

If you’re down in the area, pop in, you’ll enjoy it!

Milk Street Cafe ~ 40 Wall Street ~ NYC, NY

Hostaria Isidoro

Nestled betwen the Colosseum and San Giovanni in Laterano in the heart of historic Rome is the wonderful Hostaria Isidoro.  After a morning of scaling the Santa Scala on your knees and visiting San Giovanni in Laterano, San Clemente and Santo Stefano Rotondo, you need sustenance to steel yourself for the upcoming trip to the Colosseum. By the way, all three churches are completely amazing and need to be visited. 

The staff is wonderful and friendly. The decor cozy. The menu outstanding. The worst part of this restaurant is trying to narrow down what to eat – everything looks and sounds amazing. They do have a pasta tasting on the menu. You can choose to taste 3, 4 or 5 pasta dishes – the downside? You cannot choose the pasta dishes. You can let them know if you are allergic to something or do not care for a particular ingredient, but it’s chef’s choice. A group at a table nearby ordered this special and they had red sauce, red sauce and squid ink sauce. We decided to go a la carte.

As an appetizer, Fork and Spoon chose a simple Garden Salad. Beautiful greens top with shaved carrots, tomatoes, olives, corn and walnuts. Cruets of wonderful olive oil and balsamic vinegar were on the table. And bread, let’s not forget the bread. The bread was wonderful. Warm, fresh, rustic, perfect.

As Spoon did with almost every meal in Rome involving pasta, Amatriciana was a necessity and was ordered as one of our mains. An Amatriciana overload was called for on this trip.  Fresh tomato sauce, perfectly cooked pasta, nice hint of heat. Really, really good.

Our second asta dish was Pasta with Artichokes. Tagliatelle with artichoke hearts in a wonderful thick cream sauce. Again, everything super fresh, seasonal, and delicious.

There wasn’t much of a choice for dessert. Spoon adores Tiramisu, Fork not so much. We knew we could only manage one dessert. Tiramisu it was. It wa an amazing choice. Like no tiramisu Fork has had outside someone’s home. It was creamy, yet not gloppy. the strawberries added a nice texture and flavor. THe espresso soaked savoiardi were not mushy. It was a perfect ending to a perfect lunch!

Another great suggestion, Dad!

Hostaria Isidoro ~ via S. Giovanni in Laterano, 59/a ~ Rome, Italy

The Mussel Pot

As you walk along Bleecker Street, you are at no loss for restaurants. Any cuisine you can imagine, any price point, fancy, casual, fast food, good food, not such good food.

Along this stretch of restaurants Fork, and new found friend, Whisk, came across  The Mussel Pot. And the Mussel Pot may be a combination of most of the above descriptions!

We arrived at 6:30 and the restaurant was empty. The garden tables were all full, but the interior tables were completely empty. The restaurant itself is lovely and warm, beautiful mirrors run down one wall and the room is lit by dainty glass chandeliers. The garden has 6 tables around a small waterfall and coy pond. Sadly, they were all taken, but we were able to sit at the table right next to the door.

Our waitress, Jacky, came over and introduced herself to us. Pleasant, warm, and attentive. We asked for the wine list and found a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio. Truthfully, the wine is a bit on the pricey side and this bottle was not chilled enough. THe bus boys were quick with ice, filling water glasses, and whisking plates away. Never once did they approach the table to remove a plate until it appeared both of us were done. HUGE points for that one!

We ordered two appetizers. They took a ridiculously long time to come out of the kitchen. The surprise in this? One of the appetizers was raw.

With or without the long wait, this appetizer was outstanding. Tuna Tartare. Seriously fresh tuna, sitting on a 1/2″ thick disk of guacamole. The guacamole was fresh and chunky and a perfect partner to the tuna. On top of the tuna were some microgreens and a splodge of a citrus miso mayo type condiment. To give the plate a little texture there were some house-made potato chips served alongside. The chips were a really nice addition to the tartare. You could scoop some up on the chip and have all the wonderful flavors at once.

Our second appetizer was Fried Calamari. Fork is a total sucker for fried calamari. Sadly, this was not so great. The presentation was lovely. We loved the idea of three sauces. And there ends the love fest. Fried calamari consists of 2 parts – the legs and the rings. There were perhaps 3 rings and all the rest legs. Whisk doesn’t mind the legs. Fork really doesn’t like them at all. Really, not at all. And the rings that were there were very chewy – like rubberband chewy – which usually means they were frozen. The coating, while really crispy, was not seasoned anywhere near enough.

Then there were the three sauces. There was a spicy remoulade – spicy here is the key word. I was too spicy to enjoy. The Fork and Whisk like spice in their food but not to the point of inedible. There was also a tomato sauce water. It was flavorless and so thin in consistency that nothing stuck to the calamari when you dipped it in the sauce. The third was a chimichurri. All we can say about that is  – meh! Really disappointing appetizer.

So, the schtick with the with the Mussel Pot is – well, really, it doesn’t need explaining – MUSSELS. There are 5 different cuisine styles and 15 different ways to have mussels. They range from intriguing to what were they thinking. What is glaringly absent from their line-up is Moules Mariniere.

The mussels are all served in individual stainless steel mussel pots. Okay, we get it. mussels, mussel pots. Cute. Problem? They are pretty tall and you are eating peering over the top of your pot, holding your fork or spoon at an odd angle. Really not a comfortable way to eat.

Whisk ordered the Paella style which included clams, chorizo, fennel, tomatoes, peas, white wine, saffron, bay leaf and lemon juice. The clams were unnecessary. The broth was  delicious. There was a background warmth to it that turned out to be cloves.  Really nice combination of flavors. 

Fork ordered the Posillipo style.  A light tomato sauce, garlic, white wine and basil. Very good mingling of Italian flavors.

There are plenty of mussels in each pot. They serve bread with the mussels so you can sop up all the sauce – which is also difficult with the gigantic pots! They bring a small slice of bread each, which seems kind of silly. But they gladly bring more if you ask.

Nothing really struck us for dessert. But we were instantly drawn to the Cheese Plate by the words “a variety of the finest imported cheese accompanied with honey comb, fig chutney and candy hazelnuts.” (They desperately need someone to proofread their menu). Okay. There was Brie. There was, to quote our waitress, some kind of parmigianio. There was Havarti with dill – the least dessert type cheese you could ever find.  There was fig chutney. There were candied pecans which were very soft, which means they have been sitting around a while. There were grapes. Now, if you are missing TWO essential ingredients on a composed plate and are subbing - don’t you think you should tell the patrons and ask if they would still like to have that dessert? We couldn’t recover from the honeycomb, candied hazelnuts and havarti.

Nothing was terrible, but nothing was outstanding beyond the tuna tartare. The staff needs to be better informed of what is in each dish, what is not going to be available and most of all – how to pronounce things on the menu.

Oh, one last thing. If Fork or Whisk had gone downstairs to the restrooms before we ate, we would have left. There is. The worst. Fish. Smell. And (as if you need another thing) they have unisex restrooms. Gross. And the floors are all wet from God only knows what.

Try it. Perhaps your experience will be different. I, for one, am very glad I had a 30% coupon from Blackboard Eats or I would have been far more disappointed.

Mussel Pot ~ 174 Bleecker Street ~ NYC, NY ~ 212.260.2700