Indie Food and Wine

Indie Food and Wine is in the new Lincoln Center Film Center on the Upper West Side at W. 65th (btw Broadway/Columbus and Amsterdam). I had read about its opening but initially wasn't completely convinced that I should try it out. Descriptions of the place were mostly replete with descriptions of the high brow theater snacks that would be served (parmesan black truffle and salt & caramel popcorn). But the name "Indie Food and Wine" made the shop sound as though it would have actual food. I also work incredibly close by, so I decided one afternoon to find out what kind of lunch I could procure.

As soon as I walked in, I fell in love with the space. Country-style, wooden tables, with sparse, minimalist decor and plenty of natural light flooding in from the large floor-to-ceiling windows, and the "indie" look of having the menu written on a chalkboard pillar.

The lunch menu looked quite promising, with sandwiches such as Apricot Jam & Camembert, Duck Leg Confit, and Milk-Braised Pork Belly. I was in the mood for something hearty, so I walked up to the above-pictured counter and ordered the Braised Beef Short-Rib sandwich with cheddar, tomatoes, red onions and dijon on ciabatta.

Although the texture of the short-rib was spot-on at tender and juicy, the whole of the sandwich was somewhat lacking. The short-rib itself was underseasoned, with the cheese, tomatoes and onions adding little depth and the dijon being the overbearing flavor. Additionally, the proportions were off, as I had expected the $15 sandwich to come heavily laden with meat and well-balanced with bread. Instead, as you can see from the picture above, the sandwich is mostly untoasted bread with a thin layer of meat.

Undeterred by this initial lackluster sandwich, I returned a few days later and purchased the olive oil poached tuna sandwich with piquillo peppers, saffron aioli and frisee on ciabatta. This sandwich had slightly more depth of flavors but was a bit too watery and cold for a $12 sandwich. I am unfortunately biased against cold sandwiches so I may just have to blame myself for the purchase.

I just so happened to purchase this cold tuna sandwich the same day I was writing my Mexicue post, and I couldn't help wishing that bold, punchy, Mexican flavors were entering my mouth instead of slightly bland, cold, drippy tuna. Maybe one day the UWS won't be overly laden with fancy sandwich places. But until then, lunchtime on the UWS may just continue to be drab.

Laduree

Macarons - they're the new cupcake. But more expensive. And tiny.

Laduree, the queen of Parisian macaron stores, has finally put its mark on the New York landscape. For many years, there were only Laduree stores in Paris and Tokyo, but now we have finally been deemed worthy. Laduree opened its doors to the upscale Upper East Side, and lines have already been spilling out its fancy doors.

I met my dear friend K for lunch and she gave me this box of macarons for my birthday. Thanks K!! You're awesome. I brought my little box of treasures back to the office and though I was stuffed from lunch, I thought I would take a peek and see what delicate flavors awaited. I saw that the caramel macaron had melted and cracked a bit from traveling all around Manhattan, so I thought I would put it out of its unsightly misery. Then I wondered, what is this pink one? Rose or raspberry? ... Raspberry. Yellow one? ... Lemon. Green? Pistachio. And on and on until only one macaron remained in my saddeningly empty box. The last one smelled like hazelnut, and since I'm allergic to various nuts, I did the magnanimous thing and saved this one for my husband.

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Update (10/27/2011):

I've been flooded by macarons. Rejoice!

Two weeks ago, I told my mother, who was visiting me in NY, that Laduree had recently opened on the UES. Having purchased macarons all over NYC during a prior trip to NY, she of course had to go and compare Laduree to the others. My mom bought a box of Laduree macarons for my sister-in-law C, because a few days prior we had bought her a box of macarons from Maison du Macaron (in Chelsea) and instead of actually giving them to her, we ate them with her. She got 25% of the macarons initially intended for her. Sorry C!! So mom bought even more macarons from Laduree to make up for it. After tasting some of the Laduree macarons, my mother declared Maison du Macaron winner of the macaron wars. She wasn't a big fan of the jam filling in some of the fruit-flavored Laduree macarons and found the variety and inventive flavors (apple cider macaron!) at Maison to be superior. Being her daughter, I agreed. Though Maison probably cannot stand up to Paris' Pierre Hermes -- his macarons are in a class / planet / universe of their own. But please don't get me wrong - I would more than happily eat Laduree macarons every single day if I could.

My dear friend J also bought me a lovely box of macarons for my birthday (along with a bag full of other foodie gifts). Thanks J!!

As soon as J left my apartment, I began my ravenous dive into the box. A few minutes later, I was getting ready for bed and my husband reached for the box, opened it and exclaimed, "You ate all of them already?!"

Mexicue

Mexicue started out as a food truck, but now it has expanded to several food trucks plus two brick & mortar locations, one near Penn Station and one in the LES. I unfortunately do not work in Midtown, land where the food trucks roam, so I've never experienced the Mexicue truck. But now having eaten at a b&m Mexicue, I'm lamenting not choosing my place of employment based on food truck locations.

I bought a Gilt City coupon for Mexicue - $24 for 1 hour of unlimited food (dinner only) + 2 drinks at the 345 7th Ave. (between 29th and 30th) restaurant. I figured that my husband and I could each eat at least $12 worth of Mexicue (the tacos and sliders are ~$3-$4 each, so that's 3-4 tacos/sliders each), so the coupon was worth it.

When we got to Mexicue, the guy standing at the cash register didn't know what to do with my coupon. This has happened to me several times with various Groupons, Living Socials, Gilt Cities, Google Offers, etc. but it's a risk I'm willing to take. Fortunately, there was another (super friendly and approachable) guy behind him who knew what to do. He looked at the curent time (7:20pm), gave us some buffer, and wrote down 8:30pm as the time our unlimited food deal would expire. He explained the deal to us, including the fact that it excluded the short ribs taco. Sad. We decided to order two of everything. See below.

BBQ Brisket Slider w/ bbq sauce, habanero aioli slaw & avocado:

Berkshire Pulled Pork Slider (left) w/ pickled red onions & avocado and
Burnt Ends Chili Slider (right) w/ brisket & ground beef, cilantro lime crema, pickled jalapenos [sorry so blurry; need new iPhone 4s]:

Smokey BBQ Beans Taco w/ cotija, habanero aioli slaw, cilantro:

Alabama BBQ Chicken Taco w/ bbq sauce, romaine, roasted poblanos, cotija

My husband's favorite: Burnt Ends Chili Slider
My favorite: Getting to eat one of everything. They were all delicious. But if I had to choose, it would also be the Chili Slider. Or the Short Ribs taco that I never got to eat.

So we ended up eating 10 tacos / sliders plus 2 yummy iced teas, which would have totaled something like $35. So Gilt saved me $11. Not bad! The friendly guy at the cash register exclaimed, "You're done?? Oh come on!!" after we announced we were finished after only 1 round of eating 10 tacos. The husband and I have gotten too old for the stuff-your-face-til-you-explode-so-you-can-get-your-money's-worth mentality. I'm proud to say we exercised some self control and kept ourselves just shy of explosion. May you manage to do the same.