New series: Victoria C. Kitchen

In the last few months, I've spent a lot of money on food, and now that I have access to a decent kitchen and not a ridiculous electric stove (in a room with an overly sensitive smoke detector designed to catch stoners), I'm going to start a new series, Victoria C. Kitchen, which will show the stuff I cook (with recipes and pictures as necessary). I'm not an amazing cook, but I am adventurous and ambitious and I would never settle for canned sauce.

The principle of this series is based on a diet called I Have Five Dollars Until Friday. The occurrence of these posts will be spontaneous, and will be dependent on budget, my mood, or if I just feel compelled to cook something. You know how some designers say they started making clothes because they couldn't find this one exact thing that they really wanted? I feel the same way about food.

The first post will come sometime next week... but not before I eat everything that I've missed from California since March.

Summer travel plans

I finally start summer next week, and I will be traveling to northern California and Taiwan (home). A rough outline of my travel plans is New York --> California --> Taiwan --> California, and then I will be back in New York in September. I'm really excited to post about Taiwanese food, because it's just so delicious and unique. I will also be featuring specific people... but more on that in a couple of months.

Cafeteria

Cafeteria is one of those trendy restaurants that aims to make comfort food fancy. They serve some classic things like meatloaf and fried Oreos; they retain the great homey taste and feel of comfort food, but they're just prettier because they're in an all-white restaurant.

My appetizer was the meatballs; beef meatballs in marinara sauce with toasted bread. These are so good--really moist and flavorful, and the sauce is really nice too. Although you don't have a lot of options in meatball dishes (they also have a pork meatball slider) these are definitely better than the ones at The Meatball Shop. My only criticism is that the bread was mostly crust, and was way too crunchy and charred to be good with meatballs--you need a soft, chewy bread to dip into the sauce.

My entree was the chicken and waffles--cheddar tabasco waffles with chili butter and maple jus on the side. The waffles were so good; they're incredibly fluffy, and they have a mild cheesy flavor. The fried chicken itself was great too--the skin was incredibly crispy and well-seasoned. You get practically a whole chicken; I got two legs and what appeared to be a wing still attached to the breast. The meat was really juicy--and as moist as chicken breast can be, this was it. Though, the highlights of this dish were really the skin and the waffles, and I would be really happy just eating them with the chili butter.

They're fancy and they grill the lemon, although I can't taste
any difference once you squeeze it on your food.

So fluffy!

For a side, I got the parmesan truffle fries. I've had a lot of truffle fries where the potato is actually fried in truffle oil--this was not one of them. These were just drizzled with truffle oil, and they really skimped on the oil, too. The result is less than a third of the fries having that amazing truffle aroma. I don't think it was worth the $6; you could just buy some McDonald's fries and a bottle of truffle oil and it would be better than this.

Cafeteria makes some really nice, classic American dishes. If you can only get one thing here, it would definitely have to be the chicken and waffles. I also recommend the meatloaf! Save your money on the side dishes though; they're not really unique or something you'll be particularly thrilled with.

Cafeteria
119 7th Ave., at W 17th St.
http://www.cafeteriagroup.com/

Katz's Delicatessen

My boyfriend very strongly dislikes eating out in New York, because all you can get is expensive, mediocre food. But there is one place that he thinks is worth the money, and is actually good, and that would be Katz's. When Harry Met Sally was also filmed here; I'm a bit too young to have watched that movie, but if you liked that movie, this is a historical landmark.

In true NYC deli fashion, Katz's is really grimy. This place is cash-only, and if you walk to the very back of the restaurant to the ATM, you'll see two Porta Potty/outhouse-looking bathrooms, and the floors outside in the seating area are really slippery. It's very unlikely to have been pure water, so I held my breath while withdrawing $20. Of course, after experiencing this, I had to duck out of there ASAP, so I got my sandwich to go.

I got the pastrami sandwich, which is probably Katz's most famous item. It is so good; super juicy and tender. It is a huge portion (enough for two meals), so the $17 is well worth it. Unlike a lot of deli sandwiches, this actually has flavor and does not taste like disease. The sandwiches usually come with pickles too, and I've heard that they're good, but I can't vouch for that, because I'm terrified of pickles.

Service is pretty awful here. Thank you's and please's will absolutely be ignored, and your sandwich maker will most likely not be paying attention to what you say, unless of course you're wearing a very low-cut top.

The Lower East Side has a reputation for being gross and slightly dangerous. But if want to go to Katz's at night, just be sober and wear a sweater; East Houston Street has so many bars that rapists will have skimpier-dressed, less-composed targets to focus on.

Katz's Delicatessen

205 E Houston St., at Ludlow St.

http://katzsdelicatessen.com/

Lafayette (Part 2: The restaurant)

Lafayette just opened on April 15th, and I couldn't wait to come try it because it's owned by the same people who opened one of my favorite restaurants, Locanda Verde. Earlier this week, I posted about the bakery inside Lafayette--you can read the post here. This post will be about the actual meal.

For an appetizer, we got foie gras--fatty goose liver. Foie gras became illegal last year in California, because in order to get the geese to gain sufficient weight, farmers will force feed them by sticking a tube down their throats. It's a disgusting practice, but it's also delicious. The way you're supposed to eat this is you spread it over bread (or, if you're greedy like me, you'll eat it with a fork). For those of you who have never tried it, you're missing out. It tastes like salty butter, but better because it's creamier. The bread that comes with this dish, too, is really good. It's warm, buttered brioche that's chewy and light.

Our second appetizer was eggs Lafayette with smoked fish and caviar. It was just okay for me; the eggs were ice cold, which dulled a lot of the flavor. The smoked fish was also made into a mousse-type consistency, which I'm not really into. It's just seems a little dated for me.

My entree was duck au poivre ("with pepper"), with organic grains (mostly barley, among others), radish, and bacon. Although I requested my duck medium, it was a little less done than that, but it was nevertheless delicious. So tender and juicy, and slightly fatty. I thought that it was such a tease, cutting the radish to look like scallops (I'd forgotten that the dish came with radish, and got really excited when the dish came). I'm not sure if the dish really needed the radish, but it was still really good, especially with the bacon on top.

For dessert, I got beignets--basically donuts--which came with a chocolate mousse/cream and passion fruit syrup. These were quite nice, although it's large, large portion, but that just means you're getting your money's worth.

Overall, I was very pleased with Lafayette, both the restaurant and the bakery. I really want to come back for brunch or lunch, because they have a bunch of entrees that look really good. So far, I recommend the duck and the foie gras. Even though they're a little pricey ($29 for the duck, $20 for the foie gras) they are well worth the money--just share the foie gras with someone, and make sure to take a lot of it.

Lafayette

380 Lafayette St., at Great Jones St.

http://lafayetteny.com/

Thumbs down for Les Halles

This afternoon I was walking up Park Avenue looking for a restaurant to try. I decided on Les Halles in the Flatiron District; it's recommended by Michelin guides, and Anthony Bourdain (famous for shows like No Reservations) used to work here as executive chef. I didn't feel like eating anything too heavy, so I just got an onion soup and quiche. The onion soup was just fine, and not important to my story. The quiche, on the other hand, had tomatoes and goat cheese. I took one bite and spat it out. The cheese was more or less rotten, and it had taken me less than a second to taste it. I rinsed out my mouth, but I guess that wasn't enough, because just three hours later I got food poisoning. I'm not going to get graphic here, but I'm sure it's going to last for a while.

I was really expecting a lot more from a reputable restaurant. And I don't feel like two dishes is too few to form a solid opinion about Les Halles; a restaurant that serves its customers rotten, sour goat cheese and makes its customers sick cannot be forgiven.

Thanks, Les Halles. No like for you.

Les Halles
411 Park Avenue South, between 28th and 29th St
http://leshalles.net/