FoodMayhem

For those of you who can’t get enough chocolate there is The Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club. But, for those of you who are too cheap to subscribe, such as me. There are the Chocolate Club’s Chocolate Recipes listed for free by The Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club. Some of them sound delicious!

For those who are looking for an alternative, here is a romantic dessert, White Hazelnut Chocolate Soufflé:

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 oz hazelnuts
• 2 oz flour
• 3 oz milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 3 oz sugar, plus more for dusting souffle molds
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 oz white chocolate, chopped
• Butter, as needed
• Sugar, as needed

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Toast the hazelnuts in the oven until golden brown and fragrant, about 10 minutes, checking often. Remove the skins from the nuts by rubbing them in a towel while they are still hot. Grind in food processor until they are powdered.
3. In a saucepan, combine the flour, milk, egg yolks, 3 ounces of the sugar, and the salt. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and cook until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan.
4. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. Add the melted chocolate to the flour mixture and stir well. Set the mixture aside to cool and rest.
5. Melt the butter. Brush the inside of two (2 ounce) souffle molds with the melted butter. Sprinkle some sugar inside the molds and tap out the excess to leave a light coating of sugar all around the inside of the mold.
6. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold the egg white into the chocolate mixture, alternating with the hazelnut powder. Place the souffle mixture into the prepared molds. Bake for 18 minutes. Serve immediately.

Pizza is high on the list of my favorite foods — as they say, bad pizza is still good food. While I do enjoy going out to various pizzerias to sample their fare, I also enjoy making it. So I got excited when i read that food chemists are studying properties of whole-grain wheat to find cooking methods that will produce healthier food products. They used pizza as a sample.

In the mean time, I’ll stick with the dough recipes I generally use for making pizza. The most common recipe I use is called Jay’s Signature Pizza Crust, posted on AllRecipes by SunFlower. This recipe works perfectly for New York style pizza crust and for rolls (chicken, sausage, eggplant, etc.). It’s a fast, simple recipe.

Recently, Jessica discovered Crazy Crust Pizza Dough on AllRecipes, posted by MBSolomon. This dough is more difficult to make and work with, but is ready for actual cooking faster than Jay’s. The resulting crust rises substantially in the middle and offers a taste and texture quite similar to Pizza Hut’s dough, though not identical (the right sauce helps).

Here’s a few ideas for how to top your homemade pizza:

• Toppings should be easily bitten through or chopped small enough for one bite.
• To use fresh tomatoes: slice them to half inch thick slices, salt them heavily, then wrap them in dry paper towels for half an hour to absorb their excess liquid.
• Use a mix of cheeses: provolone, mozzarella, parmesan are the classic combo. Also try gouda, pepper jack, and gruyère for a change.
• Try different meats: shredded chicken, beef, or pork work well. Try various sliced sausages such as chorizo, sopressata, or even simple kielbasa. I’ve seen many people use prosciutto, but I avoid it as it gets dry losing it’s delicate fat and becoming difficult to bite through.
• Create salad pizza: sliced romaine, tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, and shredded parmesan, with a nice dose of oil and red vinegar goes really well on fresh baked dough. (Don’t cook the salad!)
• Make seafood pizza: sauté some canned salmon, diced onion, and sliced garlic with fresh olive. Blanche shrimp (remove tails) and sliced calamari. Combine on top of fresh baked dough with plenty of diced tomatoes, fruity extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Cook hot and use a pizza stone! You can get a stone and peel kit or just a stone. Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees with the stone inside. Slide the pizza on by sprinkling some corn meal on the peel to ease the pizza on and off. This will give your pizza a perfectly cooked crust.

As Lidia says, tutti a tavola a mangiare!

When it comes to making red sauces, one can never be too prepared… except in my case. What you see to the right is my handy plastic crate completely brimming with cans of diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste.

As you can see I’m not exactly brand loyal when it comes to tomato products. I’ve got Hunts, Del Monte, and Contadina, just from what’s visible. I basically buy whatever Costco or BJs is selling when I’m there, or whatever is cheapest at the supermarket.

When I’m shopping for basic ingredients like tomato products, I’m really focusing on finding any product that is simple– I don’t like the ones that add lots of sodium and preservatives and I NEVER buy the ones that have extra seasonings and flavors, like the ever-more common basil-infused tomato or the garlic & tomato paste.

When you’ve only got a limited amount of cabinet space you need to focus on stocking simpler ingredients, and combining as needed. Or you could get a lavendar crate and put your tomato products in the living room.

Yesterday we started defrosting some hamburger patties that I had formed from the 400 pound pile of ground beef sold by Costco. However, today I wasn’t feeling hamburgers, and Jessica asked me to use up the Erivan Acidophilus Yogurt I had purchased from Garden of Eden. As an interesting aside, it was the cheapest one they sold and is a great plain, wet yogurt! Others agree.

I used AllRecipes.com’s ingredient search and found an enchilada recipe by Vanessa Robbins that had 4.5 stars. The recipe had a few problems for me. First it was too big, second it called for taco seasoning mix (I generally don’t keep seasoning mixes around), third it called for condensed cream of chicken soup (another ingredient I don’t stock). So, as usual I adjusted the recipe. I scaled it by a third using AllRecipe’s recipe scaling tool, than adjusted manually so it made sense. Finally I reworked the missing ingredients based on common equivalents. So here you can compare the final recipe that we used for dinner versus the original.

For more pictures of the enchilada making process, checkout the enchilada Flickr set.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 4-5 green onions (scallions), finely chopped
• 1 diced fresh jalapeño pepper or equivalent jarred, or to taste
• 3 tbsp. water
• 1 tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. onion powder
  Fast cream of chicken soup:

  • 3 tbsp. butter
  • 3 tbsp. all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup milk or half & half
  • Salt & pepper

  Make light roux of butter & flour. Whisk in stock, whisk in milk, and bring to high heat until thick. Season well, cool.

• 1 tsp. each ground cumin, garlic powder, paprika, powdered oregano and sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 2/3 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 1/3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 6 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef, green onion, and jalapeño peppers until the beef is evenly brown. Stir in water and all the spices. Simmer until water has evaporated.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together yogurt, condensed soup, and cheese.
4. Divide the meat mixture evenly between tortillas. Place a couple of tablespoons of cheese mixture over meat, and roll up. Place in an 8-inch square baking dish. Repeat for each tortilla. Spoon remaining cheese mixture over the top of the tortillas.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

I just had lunch with my friend Emily at Buddha Bodai, a vegetarian place on Mott, near Worth. They have a selection of lunch specials for $6.75 and a long list of dim sum items from $2-$3.95 per plate. We chose to split a General Tso’s Vegetarian Chicken (with brown rice and a spring roll) and 3 dim sum plates.

The General Tso’s Veggie Chicken was actually great, to my surprise. Some people had raved about it on menupages but I rarely like fake meats. It was even better than regular General Tso’s because it wasn’t as oily and I didn’t feel sick after eating it. The sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves was good but I would’ve liked more filling. The steamed dumplings had a great dough but the filling was a bit too mushy. The Buddha Bean Curd was really good.

With tax and tip, it was $19.55 and us two little piggies didn’t quite finish the large lunch portions. The service was ehh…….well Chinatown style. The food was definitely good enough for the price points so I’d go back.

While researching for the previous post on celebrity chefs, I read many articles about chefs and food networks. One of the articles I came across is a protracted piece from October 2005, by Frederick Kaufman of Harper’s Magazine, entitled “Debbie Does Salad: The Food Network at the Frontiers of Pornography“. In it Kaufman, via Barbara Nitke’s insights, draws comparison between the shooting (sorry for the pun) of food television and porn, and writes:

“Like sex porn, gastroporn addresses the most basic human needs and functions, idealizing and degrading them at the same time. ‘You watch porn saying, Yes, I could do that,’ explained Nitke. ‘You dream that you’re there, but you know you couldn’t. The guy you’re watching on the screen, his sex life is effortless. He didn’t have to negotiate, entertain her, take her out to dinner. He walked in with the pizza. She was waiting and eager and hot for him.’”

Do people really watch food television wishing they could replicate what they’re seeing, and think they couldn’t do it themselves? Probably… But that is not enough though to draw a conclusion between food shows and porn flicks. The entire article isn’t only focused on this one point, however this one point symbolizes the flaws that Kaufman documents and Nitke states.

Let’s examine it closer. First, if the only requirement to be like porn was watching something you want to do but don’t think you could, than just about everything on television and in movies would be porn for the average person. Is football porn? How about a Coke commercial? Is being interviewed by Charlie Rose porn? I recommend reviewing the definition of porn. Clearly Nitke and Kaufman think that watching something that you want to do and thinking you can’t is porn. But perhaps their point is more about the likelihood of doing it or being able to do it?

That’s my second argument against their comparison. Maybe they’re drawing the comparison on the basis of likelihood of the scenario coming to fruition? The chance that the pizza guy is going to stumble in on two bi-sexual beauties in lingerie that want to jump him… in real life.. is incredibly low. The likelihood that someone could go into their kitchen and make a great meal is… in real life.. extremely high. Just because you choose not to do something doesn’t make it unlikely.

Anyway, I don’t want to meander too far off the topic of food. That’s what this blog is all about. However, I think that generally food shows are doing a great job of marketing, and we should keep in mind that beautiful food imagery is not porn. Now on that topic, go enjoy one of my favorite Flickr groups: Foodgasm.

Stephen noticed an article about Ina Garten, a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa, and sent it to Kasi, who forwarded it on to me. The article was in The New York Times on Sunday and went on for four (online) pages about her recent background and what she’s up to these days.

When I watch Food Network or WLIW’s cooking shows, as I so often do, I seriously consider why I’m listening to these celebrity chefs speak. What’s their background? What do they do when they’re not hosting a show? Are they creative? And are they talented chefs? If I’m going to spend time each week with a chef (watching their show), I sure hope they’ve got something to offer. That’s why Food Network’s recent run of Chefography Week is such a great idea and so is Garten’s article (written by Micheline Maynard).

So in my glorious arrogance, I will give a run down of the various celebrity chefs I watch out for (in a good or bad way) and why. I would love to hear your comments back on what you think of these chefs.

• Lidia Bastianich (WLIW) – Vassup! – The mother of remarkable restaurateur Joe, Lidia is an Italian chef (who was born in Croatia) who can cook her butt off! Working with an incredible vocabulary and a background running at least five restaurants (I’ve been to two), she whips up delicious recipes and makes it look so simple. You’ve got to watch her.
• Mario Batali (Food) – Vassup! – Getting his start in Jersey of all places (not that there’s no good food in NJ), he now works closely with restaurateur partner Joe Bastianich (son of the aforementioned Lidia) on at least eight restaurants (I’ve been to three). Perhaps learning from Lidia, he has a remarkable vocabulary, broad offering of Italian fare, and intricate knowledge of Italian geography especially as it relates to food. He’s pompous, condescending, and extremely pedantic. If you can get past his annoying personality, you’ll learn a lot watching him.
• Mark Bittman (WLIW) – Ich Don’t Think So -That anyone ever let this Can’t Cook Anything chef near a kitchen is astonishing. I assume he has friends in high places, otherwise how could anyone let him call himself a cook? The only reason to watch his current show is to enjoy watching the chefs with whom he cooks make fun of him (which they almost always do). Stay away from this shlub and ignore his advice.
• Alton Brown (Food) – Vassup! – While Alton’s show is extraordinarily kitschy, not my exact taste, most episodes are so over-loaded with cooking facts, your brain will feel full, and your stomach will feel hungry! He is not a great chef, but he makes up for it with information and technical advice. Sometimes great teachers are not great doers. Use his information and try to become the next technical; Wylie Dufresne wants to be beat.
• Michael Chiarello (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – This metro Californian is probably the only celebrity chef I don’t watch purely on the basis of taste, so I will understand if you disagree with my rating here. Honestly, Chiarello really makes interesting, modern California cuisine and knows the history of the cuisine. His recipes are simple and generally good for entertaining. But I don’t care much for California cuisine, and especially the Northern dishes he trends towards. Also, his personality rakes on me like nails on a chalkboard. I’m not sure what it is, I just want to yank his turtlenecks over his head and change the channel. You’ll probably be better off changing the channel too. Or not, whatever.
• Julia Child (WLIW) – Ich Don’t Think So – Before you flog me for nixxing the matriarch of television cooking, hear me out. This review is about who you should be watching today. While she taught many of our moms how to cook, her style of teaching is slow, boring, and tuned for a different generation. Honestly, she is probably better qualified as a maybe. Her Master Chefs series, where she partnered with other chefs on each episode is good, and those chefs bring a lot to the table. But, unfortunately, they are not the host and that’s what this is all about. Keep tuning that TV.
• Paula Deen (Food) – Vassup! – This Southern bird can cook, and not just fried chicken. She has a great story behind her and a lot of local popularity — always a sign that someone can actually cook. She brings ten tons of personality to each episode, I assume weight gained by eating her cooking. She’s outgoing, fun, and typical Southern. If you want to learn that cuisine watch her cook. The only downside is watching her favorite her married son Jamie, over her unmarried, metro other son, Bobby. Poor Bobby.
• Todd English (WLIW) – Vassup! – His restaurants (I’ve been to two out of the at least 12, not counting chains) could give you a heart attack: who else puts butter on lamb?! But every bite is delicious. He is the chef who answers the pure talent question. In each episode of his show he finds amazing local restaurants and creates fusion dishes out of their ideas. I particularly enjoyed watching him make a tomato soup dumpling.
• Mary Ann Esposito (WLIW) – Vassup! -While sporting what seems to be a terrible wig, she acts just like an Italian grandmother. She stands in the kitchen wearing terrible clothing, cooking food that you would kill to eat. Like Lidia and Mario, she has a remarkable vocabulary (must be something in the San Marzano tomatoes) and a broad range of dishes. Unlike Lidia and Mario, who never seem to really hit the healthy mark, I have seen Mary Ann target healthy, Italian food quite a few times and succeed. But if you’re tuning in just for that, you better hold your noodle, because it’s rare. You’re more likely to see her incredible home garden of herbs.
• Bobby Flay (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – After watching his chefography episode, now it all makes sense. This guy wouldn’t be allowed near a restaurant if it weren’t for his father. I h
  ave nothing against nepotism, seriously, but this guy has zero talent. If I trained a freckled robot to integrate poblanos into every recipe it would be the next chef at Mesa grill. I’ve eaten at two of Flay’s 3-4 restaurants and am not impressed, at all. His personality is atrocious: he’s arrogant, obnoxious, conceited, and completely inconsiderate. I have watched almost all of his 4,000 different attempts at television programs, and never seem to learn anything. Sad, don’t waste your time.
• Tyler Florence – (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – I used to be a big Tyler fan. He was really fun to watch in the early episodes of “Tyler’s Ultimate” and “Food 911″. But around the time he also assumed the host role on “How to Boil Water” it all went down hill. Perhaps it was all too much to handle, which is why he also seemed to gain a bit of weight, but all the shows went down hill– except for boil water, that show always sucked. Lately he just seems to be phoning in ultimate and 911 stories are contrived at best. Anything ultimate is no longer near Tyler.
• Ina Garten (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – Another example of huge friends (unless you consider Martha Stewart and Eli Zabar as minor players in the food world) who help get someone started. She’s a decent enough chef, and probably ate quite a bit of her own dessert, but doesn’t offer enough information about cooking. I don’t care about how much her and her husband love each other or about their stupid, fake, little plots. If you’re excited about the Contessa, hire her as a caterer.
• Robert Irvine (Food) – Vassup! – This muscle-bound, chef consultant has a new show which is fun and odd. You probably won’t learn much about cooking, but you will learn about managing a meal and prep. The story (real or not, hard to tell) is that he gets a difficult meal project and has to make it happen with too little resource (whether it’s time, food, help, facilities, etc.). If it’s not real, this guy is an incredible actor. Tune in for an episode or two, I particularly enjoyed the one where he failed (CIA World Cuisine)– it was the most realistic.
• Emeril Lagasse (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – Taking lessons on cooking from Emeril is a little like learning at McDonald’s. He used to be educational, when he was new on TV and not that long out of Commander’s Palace and had been working hard on his restaurants (what does he have, about 10 now?), he was great. The man really knows food. But lately (last four years?) he has become 100% entertainment and marketing. He’s so eager for you to buy his knives and spices, and to visit Disney World to see his restaurants, that he forgets to cook. Rather he just pours salt and garlic in a pan and offers it up. Where’s Paul Prudhomme or John Folse when you need them?
• Giada De Laurentis (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – I’m not sure why she has a television show, perhaps because her family is famous? Her personality is tacky and her cooking nothing special. Obviously she has breasts, and lately has been showing them off more and more, perhaps her ratings are going down? There are people who wouldn’t mind styling them (did you read the link above?). Then there are people who think her huge head makes her look like a bobble-head (actually I’m one of them). She shouldn’t have a cooking show, but I do enjoy her as a host on the behind the event show. She’s attractive and friendly enough to stay on tv, just not with a knife in hand.
• Nigella Lawson (WLIW/Food) – Vassup! -Speaking of breasts, Nigella is a woman who has curves galore and is not afraid to use them. Plus she really cooks some fun, home cooking. She’s like a younger, British Paula Deen, which really makes her nothing like Paula Deen. Except that she’s got a great personality and is family oriented. She is not the most amazing chef, but there are no other British chefs currently cooking on tv that I want to watch– note that I did not include Jamie Oliver, because I don’t know if he has any shows on right now. I have cooked many of her recipes, and they consistently come out “yummy” (just as she describes).
• Sandra Lee (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – While she can’t cook worth a damn, I will give her half a thumbs up because a huge part of serving food is presenting food. She really provides a great selection of fairly easy tips on decorating and serving that I haven’t seen elsewhere. But beyond that, watching her makes me dizzy and nauseated. That she starts every sentence with “All you have to do is…” and then continues on by saying “just…” is insanity. Does she not realize that by starting each of a four step process with “All you have to do…” means that it’s not all..you..have..to..do!? Christ. Will someone write a script?
• Daisy Martinez (WLIW) – Vassup! – This chica caliente creates fiery Cubano and Boriquan dishes each week. I’ve cooked many of them and they are amazing. She’s sparky and excited and loves food. You will want to take a bite out of your television. It’s been a long time since I learned of a new basic ingredient from a celebrity chef, but prior to Daisy, I had never heard of recaito, and now use it regularly. Go Daisy, go!
• Jacques Pepin (WLIW) – Vassup! – This is my hands down favorite chef of all time. While the shows with his daughter Claudine (who is mildly retarded when it comes to cooking) are annoying, the rest of his shows are an informative insight into French technique. His knife skills are legendary (I’d love to see him face off against Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai) and his cookbooks are amazing. While his shows aren’t on consistently (seemingly), when they’re on they’re worth tuning in to.
• Rachael Ray (Food) – Ich Don’t Think So – I just threw up a little in my mouth. I have so much disgust for Ray, I don’t know where to start. She can’t cook, she has the worst personality ever, and her recipes are tired. Everyday growing up my mom cooked masterful meals in 30 minutes for a family of five, so watching her make a quesadilla in 30 minutes is not special. And spending $40 a day on buying a quesadilla and a margarita is not impressive, most New Yorkers don’t spend $40 per day on food and this place is expensive! Whoever hired her at Food Network should commit seppuku on a special episode of her show. At least she proves that marketing works.
• Jacques Torres (WLIW/Food) – Vassup! – There must be something about being named Jacques (there is: it’s French). While Pepin is the best chef, Torres is the best desser
  t chef. I miss the days of “Dessert Circus” when Torres would embarrass famous chefs by icing a cake in four seconds flat. While he doesn’t have a regular show right now, he does have regular specials on Food Network and will sometimes judge a competition.
• Ming Tsai (WLIW) – Vassup! – Famous for pairing classical California wines (and other areas) with Asian cooking, Tsai knows fusion. His recipes are generally interesting, but not exciting; however he provides at least one technique on each show worth learning. Whether it’s a knife skill or a base sauce, he covers the gamut. And then he spends the rest of the show applying that technique. It’s a wonderful format and worth seeing.
• Martin Yan (WLIW) – Vassup! – Yes, you bet your ass Yan Can Cook! There are not enough chefs on television showing the techniques of Chinese cooking. As one of the oldest techniques on Earth, there’s a lot to learn. The way I see it there are two classical cooking techniques: French and Chinese. Learn both. Yan is one of the few people on TV who can teach the latter. Plus his inane ramblings are humorous, if you can follow them. After all, his cooking is a bit more like watching a machine gun fire than anything else.

I know I didn’t cover every show and chef, some specific shows I left out are America’s Test Kitchen, Barbecue University, Everyday Food, and Cucina Sicilia. But I really tried to focus on current cooking shows that have a single chef as host. If I left someone out, please let me know. And again, I’d love to hear others weigh in on these chefs. One page where lots of people weigh on chefs, though mostly Food Network, is in the Chowhound forums.

For lunch today, Steve, Justin, and I headed over to the relatively new Japanese joint, 15 East. My best guess is it’s named after its address of 15 East 15th Street, but I’m not sure, I’ll have to research it. It opened in the space where Tocqueville was. Toqueville moved down the street and got a bigger space, and we got a great Japanese restaurant.

Executive Chef Marco Moreira, who opened Tocqueville after training at Bouley Bakery, added Japanese to his repertoire and brought in Masato Shimizu, who previously cooked at Jewel Bako. The space is a simple white and gray, broken into two rooms. The first room is a sushi bar featuring African bubinga wood. The second room, a smallish dining room, offers nice acoustics and comfortable chairs.

The menu is simple offering Japanese appetizers & entrees in one section and sushi & sashimi in a second. Lunch had a fixed price, five-course lunch for $75 and a three-course for $27. All three of us opted for the latter. It started with a clear broth soup, then followed with kakiage (a tempura sampler), and finished with a chirashi.

The broth, while clear, had a strong flavor, slightly salted from the seaweed. Unfortunately the saltiness did not infuse in the fishball (which reminded me of gefilte fish, Passover coming soon and all). It also included one beautifully cut piece of bamboo, but bamboo doesn’t do much for me– to fibrous.

The kakiage includes tempura-fried shrimp, Japanese eggplant, lotus root, and a latke made of root vegetables and sweet onions and is accompanied by a lime wedge and three salts: curry salt, green tea salt, and togarashi salt. The tempura was oily — which it should never be — but otherwise crispy and hot. The lime was not strong enough against the oil and likely the classic ginger and daikon would’ve been better at cutting the oil. The salts were a wonderful addition, and worked well, although the green tea also struggled to stand up against the strong flavors. The real winner in this course was the latke. It was sweet due to onion and yam, it was crispy due to perfect frying, and presented as a beautiful nest. I really enjoyed it.

The final course was a non-traditional chirashi. Typically, chirashi is a bed of seasoned, sushi rice with a chef’s selection of sashimi across the top. While some other restaurants, such as Hamachi, have alternative presentations most are pretty consistent. At 15 East, sweet pickled ginger pieces are mixed into the sushi rice. The tamago is a sweet egg custard, perfectly caramelized on one side and diced. Other elements include sliced ebi (shrimp), diced snow pea, and slices of what I believe was saba (mackerel). The taste was perfect, although the selection of seafood was less than impressive. The picture to the right doesn’t really give justice to the portion size, as the bowl is huge and the perspective is off. Justin didn’t finish his, and Steve wished he didn’t!

The food was fresh and the service was stellar. At a table over from us, the wait staff poured a perfect, classic, glass and box of sake wine, and plated a tofu-based dish, although I couldn’t really see. The captain offered wonderful explanations of our dishes. And the prices were reasonable. The only true negative was the slightly-slow pacing. We waited slightly too long between courses, and exceptionally long for someone to check in on us after the third course was cleared.

I highly recommend checking out 15 East. I will be back there, next time to focus on the sushi and sashimi.

Ever wonder how long your food is going to last? Well you could check the expiration on each item, but that’s just going to indicate the expiration if you don’t open it. Fortunately, Laura & Heidi’s team over at RealSimple have a surprising, quick reference about expiration dates. Check it out! It also lists expirations for non-food products, but we won’t hold that against them.