Dean & DeLuca’s Eat, Drink, Speak: A Series (Featuring Julia Turshen)

560 Broadway

(between Prince and Spring Streets)

On Thursday, December 1st, as part of their Eat, Drink, Speak series, Dean & DeLuca’s Soho location featured a discussion with author and chef Julia Turshen.

 

Julia Turshen was promoting her first solo book Small Victories: Recipes, Advice, and Hundreds of Ideas for Home-Cooking Triumphs.. One may not recognize her name, but she has coauthored many well-known cookbooks, including Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good and Marja Vongerichten’s The Kimchi Chronicles. She’s also written for a variety of magazines and newspapers, including Vogue, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

 

The discussion was led and moderated by Alison Roman (below right): a freelance food writer, whose credits include having been a Senior Food Editor for Bon Appétit.

It was obvious that Turshen and Roman had an easy rapport. So the conversation was light and casual, followed by a Q&A with the audience. Some interesting tidbits: the photography for the book was completed in just three days at Turshen’s upstate home; her favorite recipe is the chicken soup featured on the book’s cover as it was inspired by her aunt; she considers the anchovy an underappreciated ingredient.

 

After the discussion and Q&A (which lasted a total of about 45 minutes), the store offered a tasting of some of Turshen’s recipes:

Julia’s Caesar with Gorgeous Crudité.  Light and healthy!

Big Bowl of Potato Chips with Roasted Scallion & Chive Dip. The dip was delicious!

Dates with Mascarpone. I especially liked to ones wrapped with prosciutto. Yum!

And we finished our tasting with Feel-Better-Soon Cookies. Very moist and chewy—like the best cookies should be!

The event was held at the back of the store and free for all to attend. It also was also being featured live on Facebook. Overlooking the action, was a deer head!

Pros:

Events are free.

Cons:

Chaotic when the discussion ended and the tasting began. For example, one attendee planted herself at one of the food tables and basically ate an entire bowl of crudité on her own.

Final Thoughts

Would attend another event depending upon the discussion and featured chef.

Momofuku Nishi (REVISTED)

232 Eighth Avenue

(between 21st Street and 22nd Street)

Since its initial opening, Momofuku Nishi has made several changes.

They are now open for lunch (12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Mon.–Fri.), and they have decided to do away with their “No Tipping” policy.

Which means that their signature Ceci e Pepe dish (renamed to the simpler and easier-to-remember “Butter Noodle”) is now $19 as opposed to its original $24 price.

And the price reduction did not mean a reduction in the quality of the dish at all. Still delicious and in spite of appearing to be a rather small serving, it is still ideal for sharing.

As a matter of fact, that is one aspect that hasn’t changed. The restaurant still encourages that all of their dishes be shared.

With that in mind, we ordered two new items on their menu. For the appetizer, we went for the mandoo ($14): pork wontons in chili vinegar. Warning: VERY spicy.  So spicy that it overwhelms the wonton making it rather tasteless.

And as an additional entrée, the skate wing ($26), served with cauliflower, brown butter, and lemon. The skate was probably our favorite part of the meal. The fish was completely deboned and meaty and flavorful.

For dessert, we were disappointed to learn that they no longer offered their famed pistachio cake (even though it’s featured quite prominently as part of the décor).

With only three options, we decided to go with our server’s recommendation: the butterscotch cake with whipped cream ($10). I found it a bit dry, even with the whipped cream.

To accompany our meal, they offered half carafes of their house white, red, and rosé ($30). We went with their half-carafe rosé, which was from Provence and had a nice, dry, light taste.

 

Pros:

Friendly service.

Comfortable atmosphere.

No longer hour-long waits. We arrived at 8 p.m. (considered prime-time for dinner in NYC) on a Thursday night and were seated right away.

Cons:

Pricey.

Wished they offered a greater variety in their desserts, especially since Milk Bar has opened several doors down.

Final Thoughts

Will return to try their lunch menu as it includes many items that are not offered on their dinner menu. Such as: their famed “Impossible Burger” (touted as a vegetarian burger) and a variety of ramen noodle dishes.