2014 Kitchen Experiment #5 - No-Bake Cheesecake

     It works! I was skeptical, but I'm a believer now. Courtesy of my daughter Laura, this no-brainer of a recipe is a quick 'go to' when the cheesecake craving hits and 'from scratch' just won't do.
     Six simple ingredients, one of them optional: one can of condensed milk, eight ounces of softened cream cheese, one tablespoon of vanilla extract, 1/8 of a cup of lemon juice, a graham cracker pie crust, and a can of fruit in syrup, if you so desire.
     Mix everything together but the fruit until smooth, pour on the pie crust. That's it! It even starts to set before you refrigerate it. The flavor is rich, the texture is silky and caresses your palate. Craving crisis averted!
     I made the mistake of buying an extra-large crust without making adjustments to the rest of the ingredients, and my mixture was too thin and barely made it to the edge of the tin. I had to spoon the servings on the plates rather than cut neat slices. Didn't stop my 86-year-old mother from licking the plate clean, though!

 

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Russian Tea Room

Just the name of this iconic place, situated right next to Carnegie Hall in New York city, conjures images of celebrities, artists, and politicians sharing ideas and debating issues while wining and dining in elegant surroundings for the past 80 years. Founded by members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, the restaurant has changed hands many times, and has been given several different purposes throughout its life. It closed in 2002 after declaring bankruptcy and, reopened in 2006.

     As soon as you enter the opulent space, a field of red lavish booths greets you with the promise of a luxurious experience in a Russian salon circa the late 1800s. The waiters are dressed in black shirts closely resembling Russian peasant attire. The walls are bejeweled by elegant artwork and shiny samovars, the traditional teapots of Russia.

     Our decision to visit The Russian Tea Room was not planned, and we didn't have reservations. However, when I called them already en route, they encouraged us to come and welcomed us warmly when we arrived. We had dinner a bit late so we left without visiting the gift shop or the other three floors, which I understand are as interesting as the first. I would really like to go back for brunch or lunch perhaps, and tour the entire place.

  I took a deep breath of the Continental air as I sat in my extravagant booth, and promptly ordered a Chocotini while John boldly stepped out of his comfort zone and ordered a Baltika 7, beer straight from St. Petersburg, Russia. My drink offered a satisfying blend of alcohol and chocolaty sweetness, and John's beer had the distinct hint of bitterness he expected from a Lager.

     We certainly got caught up in the Russian motif when ordering entrees. John had the Boeuf à la Stroganoff and I picked the Chicken Kiev. Hubby found it satisfying but wasn't blown away, and in his apathy, he paid my braised beef recipe a compliment. "Yours is better." He's a keeper.

     My chicken had a lot of potential. The crust on the generous breast was light and perfectly crisp, but the flavor of the meat was slightly bland, as in the apricot jasmine rice on which it rested. Apricot is a pretty distinctive flavor, and I had difficulty finding it. The fig compote held the most promise, and it delivered, except it was cold... was it supposed to be cold? This mix of soft stewed figs and white raisins in its naturally rendered syrup is the perfect match to the juicy chicken, but it would've been much more comforting had it been warm.

     The dishes were hearty and filling, and as I said, dinner was a bit later than is our habit, so we opted out of dessert. I did, however, take a cursory look at the available selections and didn't see anything that jumped out at me. No matter. I know I will be back and have another turn at their fascinating menu.

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Tony's Di Napoli

Benvenuti a New York! Birthday month continued with a bang. You can't beat a long weekend in the Big Apple to extend the celebration, which now included John's special day as well. We planned a small family reunion with some relatives from New Jersey, and Tony's is the perfect family-style eatery right off Broadway and 43rd. Street, in the heart of Times Square.

     I have looked assiduously for a place like this in Miami, and I am sorry to say I haven't been able to replicate the feeling I get when I'm at Tony's. The closest I've come is Maggiano's and that was in Atlanta. But even there, the scent of franchise seeps into the experience. When you walk through the door at Tony's, you know you're about to be treated and fed like family and with friendly sophistication. There's always a celebratory air- every meal is a party.

     Tables of all sizes accommodate parties of any number and are covered in red-checkered and white tablecloths. Walls full of pictures feature recesses full of wine bottles. The restrooms in the basement remind me of every restaurant in Italy, and their unmistakable huge chalkboard menus look down on the joyous patrons.

 John and I arrived early and waited for the family at the bar. A stunningly beautiful lady bartender took our orders of a Corona for Hubby and a deliciously sweet and potent frozen Bellini for me. Let me just say, I was the life of the party after only one delicious drink!

 We began with the most delectable mountain of fried calamari with Marinara and Fra Diavolo (for the hot spice lovers) sauces on the side. For entrees, we all agreed on family platters of Chicken Marsala, spaghetti with Marinara, and Shrimp Fra Diavolo. I didn't try the shrimp, but those who did were making satisfied noises, so I concluded that it met expectations. The chicken wa stupendous and covered in copious amounts of mushrooms, the Marsala sauce rich in flavor, yet light in texture. In fact, I will confess that when the sauce accidentally touched one of my calamari, the combination was surprisingly pleasant. I know most people wouldn't agree, but I like to experiment with unlikely fusions. I was so intrigued by my new creation, Calamari Marsala, that I totally passed on the spaghetti.

     We were all so full at the end of the meal, that we didn't order any dessert, to my great disappointment. It would've been fun to see a huge platter of Tiramisu, Chocolate Mousse Cake or Ricotta Cheesecake in the middle of our table. No worries... it's New York. I'll be back.

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Katz's Delicatessen

When Harry met Sally, she taught him a stern lesson on feminine wiles that none of us will ever forget, and it happened right here!

     Katz's, down on the Lower East side of Manhattan, is the oldest delicatessen in NYC (est. 1888), and it reminds me in some ways of a high school cafeteria. It's chaotic, a bit grungy and there's no time for personalized attention. I have to say I enjoyed the quick, terse exchange with the man at the counter when placing my order, but if you don't care for the no-nonsense New Yorkers or you don't know how it all works, you can get pushed, shoved, and swallowed up in this place.

     When you arrive, two bouncers greet you politely and hand you a ticket on which your life now depends. As you place your orders at the different counters, the servers behind them write down the prices of your items. If you get to the cashier without your ticket after you've eaten, the Kat'z SWAT team (the bouncers) will block your exit and conduct a body cavity search, I think.

     My husband likes quality cold meats, and I had spent several weeks prior to our trip selling him on the idea of trying Pastrami for the first time! (crazy, right?) When we arrived in New York, he was still not sold on rye bread, but turns out Katz's uses a 'light rye', a milder version of the original. If you are able to find the slices of bread lost in the colossal amount of meat, the combination is quite good. And oh, the meat!  I've never been a Pastrami lover, but after stealing a taste, I can't forget the endless moist, pink thick slices beckoning from Hubby's plate. And they don't serve the sandwich with the token pickle on the side; it's a plate with an assortment of pickles on the side. I had a field day!

    Once I was done picking at my husband's plate, I dug into my whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and lox. Seems like an ordinary thing to order but this is a habit I can't break when I visit a Jewish deli. I wish I had broken it on this occasion. It was good enough, but the lox was not of the best quality, I'm disappointed to say.

     In my desire to expose hubby to wider cuisine horizons, I ordered Blintzes for us to share. Again, they were ok, but somehow they were missing something. The thin pancakes were perfectly cooked, brown in all the right places and with that oh! so subtle hint of crispiness. They were stuffed with uninteresting cheese that couldn't make its mind whether to be lumpy or smooth. I had to ask for sour cream. Really? I also thought they could have shown a little more love with a fruit jam of some kind.

     John said it best: "Glad we visited; now we can check it off the list." 

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Aoki Teppanyaki

     'Cause it was still my birthday month! The celebration continued Japanese-style! It was fun and educational. Turns out what I've been calling 'hibachi' is actually 'teppanyaki'. 'Teppanyaki' refers to dishes cooked over an iron griddle whereas 'hibachi' cooking uses an open grate design, like a barbecue grill.
     Aoki is expansive and the Asian decor is successful in creating an elegant and authentic Japanese village atmosphere. I noticed a tunnel of red wooden arches offering carved aphorisms in both Japanese and English, vaguely reminiscent of Kyoto's torii gates. Intricate wooden statues greet you from accent tables and counters.
   

     I have to say that the best part of our visit for me was the service. Everyone made me feel like a VIP, and they didn't even know it was a birthday lunch until much later.  I asked for a private table when ours filled up with strangers, and they quickly and cheerfully complied with my request. You see, that's not how it normally works. Teppanyaki tables are intended to be filled with more than one party if necessary, but I wanted the freedom to catch up with my lunch companions, Usha and Cindy without sacrificing privacy.  Yes, I'm spoiled that way.
     I wanted my Lychee Martini prepared a certain way and, once again, the bartender was happy to grant my wish.  Not only that;  he also charged me the Happy Hour price even though I requested a premium vodka.
     A special shoutout to the hostess, Kristen, and our server, Quinn, for their attention to detail in making our visit a delightful experience. When I speak of what restaurant service should be like, this is what I'm talking about!
     The meal begins with what they call the Spinning Salad.  The salad man comes to the table and 'spins' a mixture of romaine lettuce and fresh vegetables with ginger dressing. Nothing unusual about it except that they top it with Bonito shavings or 'bacon from the sea'.
      Act 2 is the actual show with the fire and the knife juggling, and between the three of us, we covered the staples for the main course: NY striploin, chicken, pork and shrimp. The one element of this meal that made me take pause was the Inaka Rice (Healthy Fried Rice). I can confidently say this is the best Asian-style rice I have ever tasted.
     The mix of white, Japanese short grain, Jasmine, brown and Chinese Forbidden rices along with vegetables and Japanese Somen noodles produce a light yet luxurious flavor that is addictive and requires no help from sauces or dressings. In fact, I am convinced if you add anything to it, you will ruin the magic.
          The flavor of this rice is so well constructed, a bowlful can stand alone as a complete meal. However, it's versatile enough to be the perfect companion to the proteins and the sauteed vegetables. A note about the vegetables- it's the standard combination of zucchini strips and onions, but their "orange" vegetable is sweet potato in place of carrots, a definite upgrade in my opinion.
     The dessert menu consists of only one item: Fried Brownie with your choice of Green Tea, chocolate or vanilla bean ice cream. Since there's always room for improvement, perhaps this is an area they could work on just for the sake of variety. We did share one order for quality control and enjoyed it. The brownie was hearty and comforting in its crusty covering and went well with the coolness of the ice cream.

     The Green Tea flavor was a bit on the mild side and got swallowed up by the strong personality of the fried brownie, but that wasn't a huge shortcoming.
     It's fascinating to me how just one or two outstanding features can make the difference between a mediocre experience and a memorable one. The personalized service and that off-the-chain rice made this meal distinctive. Glad I came!

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Earls Kitchen & Bar

In keeping with the spirit of my birthday month, the celebration continued at Earls in Miami courtesy of my friends Jackie and Liz.

     We were here once before, but I forgot my camera that day and I was itching to have a do-over so I could blog about it. The space is ample and open. Even the kitchen exposes itself and its cooks, offering a bustling spectacle to the patrons sitting in its proximity. We sat at the core of the place, a wide, bright expanse framed by enormous glass doors where an ocean of elegant picnic and counter tables surround a large island that is the main bar. This area is itself surrounded by a balcony on the other side of the glass providing outdoor seating under happy red umbrellas.

   

Earls is one of those places that follows the trend to kick off Happy Hour at 3:00 pm, and we, tired teachers at the end of the school year, were happy to partake. Jackie and I started with white and red wines respectively, and Liz ordered a Raspberry Lemondrop. None were memorable, so Jackie had a Vodka Cranberry. She wasn't impressed with that either. But then we discovered their frozen White Peach Bellini, and the gates of joy opened wide. Rum, sangria, white wine and peaches in perfect alchemy. It's attractive, it's sweet and it goes down smoothly in a most dangerous way.     

     For appetizers, we ordered a side portion of onion rings and an order of yam fries. The onion rings didn't make any lasting impression, but oh those yam fries! They're the kind of thing you crave in a bottomless bucket, curled up on the couch with something good to watch on TV on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I don't care who you are or what your eating habits are... all bets are off!

     For entrees, Jackie ordered the Dominical Fish Tacos, grilled wahoo with mango avocado salsa, and she enjoyed them, except for the hot sauce, which fortunately was served on the side. Liz and I ordered Chicken, Brie and Fig sandwiches. What could be better than the combination of cheese and fruit in ciabatta bread? Maybe some roasted apples, some spinach and garlic mayonnaise mixed in with the sweet fig jam and Brie to give it extra punches of flavor? Done. The perfect match to those heavenly Bellinis. Liz had a side of kale salad with her sandwich and I had a side of delicate Yukon potato fries with mine. They sure know how to fry things at Earls.

    The first time we were there, we shared the Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert, a structure consisting of chocolate cake, vanilla bean gelato with toffee and chocolate sauces. It was a delightful choice, but this time we went for the featured dessert, the Fresh Berry Shortcake, a homemade shortbread cookie swaddling a sublime vanilla cream mousse, topped with seasonal berries, which for us turned out to be strawberries.

     I like this place, I really do, and even though I wouldn't characterize the menu as spectacular, it offers enough solid selections to make any visit pleasant. Nevertheless, I found a snag that I can't let go. In all fairness, this is not the restaurant's fault but rather a lack of judgment on the server.

     I counted four separate instances in which she addressed Jackie while I was mid-sentence, which forced me to stop so my friend could answer her questions. I understand that they are trained to be accessible to the patrons, but couldn't she just stay visible without interrupting, or perhaps wait for a natural stopping point in the exchange to address someone at the table? I can see it happening once, but the same behavior four times? How could she not notice that she was constantly cutting into the conversation? I don't know, maybe it's me.

   All ranting aside, I'm glad we went back, and I'm glad the experience was enjoyable, for the most part, and I wouldn't mind visiting again.

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Café Prima Pasta

I'd been wanting to try Prima Pasta for over a year. In fact, I'd heard so much about it, I mentioned it in my women's fiction novel "Friends of the Bride", available March 7, 2020. No amount of research or number of third party opinions can beat an actual visit. Writers have to keep it real, right?  So my friends DJ and Frances with their respective husbands, Mario and Ross joined John and me for a birthday celebration/'casing the joint' adventure.

     The place as a whole is small and even further divided into a bar area and a dining area. The tables are so close together, you're almost forced to have physical contact with the strangers sitting around you.

   .  Lights are dim which exponentially enhances the spectacle that is the focal point of the space, a lavish crystal chandelier like none I've ever seen. The walls are papered with pictures and wine bottles, and the ceiling sparkles with an eclectic mix of lighting fixtures, all holding court around the centerpiece. It's busy, it's crowded, it's dark, but it works.

     The menu is comprehensive and respectably Italian. For appetizers, we started with an Antipasto Misto and a basket of Zucchini Fritti seasoned with salt and lemon. The antipasto platter contained cold cuts, cheeses, grilled vegetables, hearts of palm and an assortment of large olives that transported me back to Tuscany.

   

     Our entree selections were varied and a good representation

of the menu. DJ and Ross had the Black Linguine Seafood in lobster sauce, Frances and I had the Fiocchi Rapera, tiny pasta purses stuffed with Asian pear and gourmet cheeses happily playing in truffle sauce, and dotted with crispy sprinkles of prosciutto. You see, when fiocchi is on the menu, I have to look no further. I rhapsodized so much about this dish, that the very particular Frances decided to try them. I'm happy to report that she was not disappointed, although they were not the best I've ever tasted. However, I found them satisfying and would become my 'usual' were I to frequent the establishment.

     John ordered the Chicken Limone and found it unremarkable. Mario had the Veal Parmesan and ate it with gusto. Palates are like snowflakes.

     Dessert was fun. First, we were serenaded by the staff with a cheesy rendition of "Happy Birthday, Principessa", which I didn't hate, accompanied by a block of Tiramisu. Then, we proceeded to play DJ's and my favorite game, Musical Desserts. We ordered Profiteroles, pastries usually stuffed with cream and drizzled in chocolate sauce. Prima Pasta, however, stuffs them with vanilla ice cream. I prefer the classic version.

   

     We added ricotta cheesecake, Creme Brulee, and Tartufo, dulce de leche ice cream covered in a hardened dark chocolate. I'd never had ricotta cheesecake and I found it the perfect combination of airy and rich. I'll be looking out for more of that in the future. I love Tartufo, but somehow this one didn't satisfy. I wanted the sumptuous flavor of dulce de leche, but I had a tough time finding it. Perhaps it was overwhelmed by the dark chocolate.

     The Creme Brulee and Tiramisu were average. I will say, however, that everyone else enjoyed all the selections as they rotated around the table. I'm just too picky about my sweets, I admit.
     The restaurant punctuated our meal with complimentary shots of Sambucca, a gracious gesture indeed. It was a great evening, primarily because of the company of good friends, great conversation and endless laughter. Looking back, the year I turned 53 was a good one.

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