in the cut: columbine

columbine caught my attention because the line stretched out the door and onto west broadway.  like my recent visit to eataly, the scene could have easily been mistaken for a nightclub but columbine eliminates the sensory overload.  it's a tiny space with limited standing room and seating for 4-5 people at best.  unlike its modest appearance, i'd say it is one of the best looking and well dressed soup/sandwich/salad lines i have seen. 

this afternoon i had a cup of 'uncle mike's corn & potato bisque" paired with a jerk chicken sandwich and root beer soda. i have enjoyed other meals here but today's missed the mark. the bisque was watery and the jerk chicken sandwich was dry while the popular jerk spice was no more than an afterthought.

uncle mike's corn bisque



columbine's jerk chicken sandwich

 maybe i'm just bitter because i dropped $2.50 on a root beer that could have been spent on some four loko but the premium on my $17 lunch was not worth it today.  however, i do recommend trying 'donald's famous smoked chicken salad' sandwich and lounging by the window to people watch.  bring your own drank and use the money you saved to get a thesartorialist.blogspot.com worthy outfit so that you can blend in and get a number/date in addition to your sammich!   

Columbine
229 w. broadway
corner of white & w. broadway

tequila tasting event w/ Casa Noble & Rolling Stone

check it!  thursday, november 4th from 7-9pm at Groupe Seize Sur Vingt on 78 greene st.  get your drink on with 100% blue agave certified organic tequila.  you can send your rsvp to casanoble@16sur20.com

if you're interested in casa noble visit casanoble.com

your welcome!

recipe zeit! garlic & rosemary leg of lamb with russian fingerling potatoes

1.5 - 2lb leg of lamb
4-6 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
sea salt
2 sprigs of rosemary
extra viirgin olive oil

1/2lb of fingerling potatoes
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
sea salt
black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
extra virgin olive oil

pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees on the bake setting.  clean/prep your lamb (i used cold water and a lemon) and tie crosswise with clean butchers twine in order to hold a desireble shape that will retain the juices and allow the meat to cook evenly.  to season, take at least 2 garlic cloves and cut them crosswise.  after making slits in several parts of the lamb stuff each cavity with the garlic.  next, chop your rosemary leaves finely after you have removed the stem, dice the remaining garlic and crush your peppercorns.  evenly spread your rosemary, minced garlic, black pepper, white pepper, and sea salt onto the leg of lamb.  finally, spread just enough olive oil to coat the lamb and you are in business.

to prepare the fingerling potatoes, cut them lengthwise then add half a teaspoon of pepper, salt, olive oil and dried rosemary (a dash of cayenne pepper is optional). 

i added a little water to the bottom of the roasting pan hoping to keep my lamb moist then set the lamb on the rack.  add your potatoes, cover and bake at 350 degrees until the thickest part of the lamb registers 155 - 160 degrees (medium rare).  for a 1.5 - 2 lb leg of lamb, you'll be ready in about 1 hour or 1 hour 15 minuntes but remember to let the meat rest for about 10 mins. 

serves 2-3

leg of lamb sample at eataly leads to leg o' lamb at the crib

we sampled the special of the day (leg of lamb) at eataly's carving station and shapowwww! our first eat this, cook that dish was conceived.  

the recipe will follow but i'm so excited about this leg o' lamb that i had to post the prep pictures for ya!

club batali is crazy right now

your boy made it to eataly tonight but nobody told me it's like pdiddy's white party in there.  it's seriously off the yuzzlebub because not only is the space massive and the selection of goods are mind boggling but errrbody is walking the runway in this place.  seriously, hide yo husband...hide yo wife...hide yo kids because errrrbody is getting their sexy back in there.   

luckily for you, i'm not chasing booty in the market so here are some shots of the market/restaurant/wine bar/bakery/pastry shop...well you get the idea.

tell your friends to get with my friends and we can be friends

young sis told me yesterday that the blog title is limited and has no search engine optimization so i decided to look at the metrics.  the page views are not hot fire mon.  i rip and i rhyme.  i rhyme when i rip, so what's the hold up america?  i figured this would be a work in progress but damn.  so check it, i'm going to work on hooking you up with exclusive offers.  like for real.  don't ask me where, when, how but it's coming.  in the meantime, get your friends to visit the blog so that they can get entertained, get hooked, then we get sponsors.  ok? ok.

it's all about the food

timeout new yawk recently published a story profiling the best dishes at the best restaurants.  it's a perfect opportunity to start crushing some hot flava and show you how i do my thangalang.  the roasted rack of lamb with south african flavors at annisa sounds like a solid challenge and shawty loves lamb.  at the restaurant they want $34 for some spiced lamb with egg custard and sweet tamarind sauce.  ohhh hell naw!  i'm not even gonna front though, i have no idea what south african flavors mean so this project is going to require a little research. 

it's your burrrrrday

see you in the kitchen tanya...gucci is gonna do the dishes

where's that recipe son?

last nights dinner was pretty awesome and surprisingly easy to prepare.  don't be cheap...get yourself a whole natural chicken and a kitchen aid roasting pan with a rack.  you'll get a real juicy bird.

1 whole chicken
1 lemon
3-5 sprigs of thyme (dried thyme will do)
hungarian paprika
old bay seasoning
sea salt
black pepper (i prefer whole madagascar peppercorns)
butter
parsley
garlic cloves
chicken stock

you'll need to soften up some butter so go ahead and pull it out of the fridge then pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees on the bake setting.  clean/prep your chicken with some cold water and lime juice.  cut your garlic cloves in half and stuff them under the skin.  next, i like to add some flava to my butter by mixing it in with chopped up parsley, black pepper, garlic, & sea salt.  spread that deliciousness on the outside and under the skin.  to season, coat the chicken inside and out with thyme, pepper, hungarian paprika, and old bay seasoning liberally then add your salt cautiously.  halve a lemon and stuff inside of the chicken.

in the roasting pan, pour your chicken stock to just cover the base and set your chicken on the rack.  cover and bake at 350 degrees until the thigh temp registers 170.  depending on the size of your chicken this can take anywhere from 40 - 60 mins or more.

hint: add celery cut about 1-inch, potatoes, and carrots about half way through.  you can stuff it inside the chicken but sauce is boss so it's best to add it to the chicken broth/drip drip on the bottom of your roasting pan.

oh snap!

eat it.  cook it.  blog it.  PRESTO.  this is the first post ever (not counting the test page ines set up for me) and i'm doing it while roasting some chicken ya'll.  unfortunately, tonight's dinner was not inspired by a previous meal so i can't really spit hot fire about how i hooked you up with a cheap/fast/tasty/dopeboymadness recipe that would normally cost you mad loot at the restaurant but i promise that will come shortly.  i just wanted to get this blizzog up and running.  feel me america?  it's going down.  check it!

you should smell this bird, it's still roasting as i type this.  but we have other tastiness going down in the kitchen.  here is ines hooking up some homemade creme brulee...

recipes etc. etc. etc. to follow. you're welcome!