Category: Restaurants

Down Under: Auckland Pt. 2

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AUCKLAND DAY 2

Last evening we had a very early bite to eat at the Occidental Belgian Beer Café, a rustic dark wood place with a long bar and lots of low and high tables. The menu had many options for mussels (green-lipped ones very popular here) with a variety of sauces, and of course, Belgian frites with mayonnaise plus a selection of small plates and mains. Being quite zonked by this point, we decided on the mixed olives with feta cubes (deliciously spiced), chicken croquettes, and, of course, a cone of fries, accompanied by some NZ wines.

Our boutique hotel is charming with just 25 rooms and a zippy décor with brightly colored furniture and a carpet with wide bright stripes. The staff is exceedingly pleasant and helpful and our room quiet.

But the wi-fi speed is abysmally slow so we’ve become part of the café culture.

This morning we sat in the lovely, spacious, and quite elegant Gloria Jean’s near the University of Auckland; we returned after lunch for more coffee and tea and more good wi-fi. For the record, we went back to the Occidental for lunch–this time smoked salmon for the Chief Penguin and their Caesar salad with chicken for me.

The Auckland Art Gallery is at the top of a hill near Albert Park and combines a beautiful old building with great detailing with a new sleek contemporary addition. In some ways, seeing the building was as impressive and enjoyable as viewing the art. We checked out the gallery of Maori portraits of tribal chieftains all painted by one man, Charles Frederick Goldie, and found them fascinating,    

We also toured another exhibit, “Paris and the Future of Art” with works by artists from around the world including a couple with Kiwi connections. I particularly liked Duncan Grant’s portrait of a pregnant Vanessa Bell and New Zealand painter Gretchen Albrecht’s “Dervish” in strong red and orange.

John Nixon’s simple bold graphics were the focus of an exhibit in the new building and they were exhibited on walls painted in the deep bright bold colors he employed in his paintings.  

Header photo is of the flower clock in Albert Park.  In 1994 the Chief Penguin’s parents spent 7 week’s in New Zealand and Australia.  His father kept a journal and so we know they looked at this clock too then.

All photos by JWFarrington except The Occidental (from their website)

 

West Village: Eating Ethnically

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ETHNIC EATS.  We like to eat and we like variety.  We’ve returned to some of our favorite dining spots, but have also been on a quest to try new places.  Here’s a round-up of some recent meals in the West Village.  Bon appetit!

Nisi  

On Bleecker Street, Nisi’s front window has a view of an attractive round table set with a white and blue patterned teapot. Inside, one wall is lined with shallow bowls facing out and the other is a lattice of clear blue bottles. The cuisine is Greek and we shared a green salad to start along with some very tasty large shrimps in a tomatoey sauce. They were listed as shrimp, but I’d call them langoustine, given their size and the presentation head and all. Following that, we dove into the lamb kebab and the half chicken with lemon. Portions were generous and both came with Greek fries. Plenty to eat in a most pleasant atmosphere.

Surya  

Also on Bleecker Street farther down is this delightful Indian restaurant. Here the Chief Penguin and I enjoyed a mix of old favorites and new dishes. The vegetable samosas were sizable and quite good. Even better was the spicy cauliflower in a rich tomato sauce. Next up, he sampled a special chicken dish while I loved the shrimp in a coconut curry sauce with strips of red and yellow peppers. All served with oodles of steamed rice. He had to have their garlic naan and I found the pappadum irresistible. Definitely worth a return trip!

Mole  

This West Village Mexican place has some of the best guacamole around! It’s chunky and fresh and you can even order it spicy with bits of jalapeno. Served in a wide stone bowl, it’s so good it’s hard to save room for anything else. But we did! The Chief Penguin had his standard, a quesadilla, and I tucked into the chicken enchiladas with red and green sauces. The red was rich and complex; the green piquant with some sourish high notes. They came with rice and refried beans, but the enchiladas themselves were enough for me.

Hudson Hound

Situated on Hudson Street with outdoor seating, the Irish Hound is rustic wood inside—old style wooden booths and a few tables with shelves of metal implements and wavy glass bottles lining the wall. It feels cozy. We sampled the excellent homemade hummus along with the grilled Caesar salad. The salad was perfect for sharing and attractively presented on a large square plate. We each ordered the half chicken with two sides. The roast chicken was some of the best I’ve eaten, adobe spiced with thimbles of three sauces—gravy, a green salsa, and their creamy yum-yum sauce. Lots of choices of sides, but I opted for the grilled asparagus and the sautéed spinach. Plenty of food and not for the faint of appetite.

Highlands  

Continuing our international culinary tour, we next visited Highlands, a Scottish gastropub on Christopher Street. It’s always been crowded when we’ve passed. Using Open Table, we were forced to book an early time and were the only ones in the dining room for a short while until another group of seniors arrived. Our waiter was a wiry young man with a wry sense of humor.

Being a traditionalist, C.P. ordered the sausage roll to start while I was intrigued by the description of the short rib crostini. It was sublime comfort fare—cubes of short rib on top of melted cheese and horseradish on toothy toasted bread.  Added to that was a mini cup of jus flavored with crumbles of blue cheese—heavenly! For mains, we sampled the gnocchi with wild mushroom sauce and the chicken Parmesan salad. The latter was more chicken than greens, the chicken having been breaded and fried just a bit. Another restaurant worth a return visit!

Niu Noodle House  

For a change of pace, we decided to go Chinese, and Niu on Greenwich Ave. was most satisfying. The panfried chicken, shrimp and chive dumplings were served straight from the stove while the pork buns were appropriately soft and tasty. For an entrée, we shared the spicy beef with mixed vegetables (green pepper and onions). We went for medium spicy rather than extra spicy and it was spicy enough for our palates.

Note: All photos from the web except for the Nisi table (JWFarrington).

Manhattan Musings

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MANHATTAN MUSINGS. It’s been a week for rainy weather, TV, a fine film, and re-visiting some favorite West Village restaurants.  

After what seems like months of no rain in Florida, we are getting re-acquainted with the wet. Toting umbrellas and slogging through the puddles, we endured or enjoyed, depending on your perspective, two solid days of serious rain, gray skies, and temperatures scraping sixty. The day in between the soggy ones was cloudy with a brief showing of sun and somewhat warmer. It’s perfect for quiet hours reading or catching the latest film—that’s when we are not with the bundles of energy known as our granddaughters!

COMPASSIONATE CONFLICTED VICAR

We’ve been watching some recent episodes of Grantchester, and I’m continually impressed by the depth and complexity of this series. Yes, Sidney inserts himself into police business with his friend Geordie, the detective, and is seen as helpful by the crime victims’ families and as a hindrance by the local constabulary. He seems to have an inordinate amount of free time to devote to solving murders and to dancing attendance on one woman or another, be it his current love interest Hildegarde, or his longtime friend, wish-she-was-my-flame, Amanda.

Cosseted, cared for, and fussed over by his junior curate, Leonard, and by the bossy, but soft-hearted, Mrs. M., Sidney’s strongest relationship is really his deep friendship with Geordie. Older than Sidney, Geordie also served in the war, and, like Sidney, has memories of it he’d rather not recall. Although their approaches to daily life are quite different, the two men spar and josh, but when it matters most are each other’s staunchest supporter. First rate viewing!

FILM FARE

Their Finest is both a film about war and a love story. I found it moving and witty. Making a film that includes the making of a film is a challenge often not successfully met. Their Finest (with a title that is hard to remember and seems to ask “finest what?”) is a delightful exception. Here you have the Ministry of Information in 1940 London trying to bolster the morale of its citizens and simultaneously encourage the Americans to join the war. Their documentary assignment must be accurate and yet lively and thus you have the making of a film about the supposed actions of twin sisters helping evacuate soldiers at Dunkirk. The two male writers are joined by Mrs. Cole, a former secretary, who gets to write “slop” (dialogue for the women characters). As a backdrop to the levity of film production is the ongoing destruction and death wrought by the Blitz.

The cast is excellent: Bill Nighy as the consummately egocentric aging actor, Ambrose Hilliard; Gemma Arterton as Mrs. Cole, a quiet young woman with backbone and determination; and Sam Clafin as Buckley, her co-writer and an ordinary looking guy with a steadfast presence. Jeremy Irons has a cameo appearance as the Secretary of War. These are hard times and emotions are mostly kept in check. Besides Mrs. Cole, other women show up in the work place in expanded roles and one person questions what will happen when the war is over. Definitely worth seeing!

FAVORITE DISHES

We have been returning to some of our West Village favorite restaurants and ordering both new and old dishes from the menu. Last evening we got the last table at Meme Mediterranean (pronounced “may, may”), a cozy Middle Eastern eatery on Hudson Street. It had rained all day long and was still drizzling so the outside seating was not available. Midst a general din, we were squeezed in between two tables each with a pair of boisterous young women.

Despite the cacophony, our palates perked up at the tasty offerings. The Chief Penguin ordered the fried artichokes, always a pleaser, which come with two dipping sauces. My new favorite dish was four large spiced (not spicy) shrimp each one atop a cool cube of watermelon served on a narrow rectangular plate. It was the perfect marriage of piquant and cooling and, in its pinkness, oh, so pretty!

Credits:  Header photo and wet sidewalk JWFarrington (some rights reserved); Grantchester characters copyright ITV, Meme interior from their website.

Tidy Tidbits: Viewing and Vittles

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We attended a fun concert of Cole Porter songs, explored new dining options locally, and I’ve been sampling a number of different television series.

MOTHER’S DAY FUN

We four were sans our mothers, but we enjoyed very much the Hot ‘n’ Cole concert at the Sarasota Opera House that afternoon.  Featuring six undergraduate musical theater majors from Penn State and two pianists, this was a lively celebration of Cole Porter’s songs.  It was nicely choreographed and the singers were both exuberant and talented.  An audience favorite was Sarasota hometown star, Maria Wirries.  To cap off the day, we had dinner across the street at Bijou Café.  Elegant and gracious, this restaurant always pleases.

SMALL SCREEN

I’m guessing that the image most of us have of Albert Einstein is of an older man with a frizz of wild white hair shooting out in all directions.  This is not what you see in Genius, a new TV series from National Geographic based on Walter Isaacson’s biography.  In Genius, we get Einstein as a young man, brilliant, but frustrated by his inability to get any scientific notice for his work.  And as a harried husband and father who depends upon his wife, Mileva, for her scientific knowledge and insights, but fails to credit her publicly.  It’s an extremely well done, fascinating series! 

I’ve also been sampling a variety of Netflix and Amazon offerings during my treadmill time.  Nothing has truly captivated me and earned an A.  Mostly they are B’s.  They run the gamut from Z: The Beginning of Everything about Zelda Fitzgerald’s coming of age and her tumultuous marriage to hard-drinking novelist Scott,  to Longmire,  to When Calls the Heart.  Z is an Amazon production which I found slow going initially.  It picked up a bit and I did watch the entire first season.

Based on a recommendation, I watched the first season and a bit more of Longmire.  Set in remote Wyoming, it’s a modern day western crime series.  Sheriff Walt Longmire and his two deputies deal with murders and runaways all the while doing a delicate dance in their relations with the nearby Indian reservation.  I was engaged for quite a while, but then decided I’d had enough of the west–at least for now.

Lastly, I’ve gone back and forth between a very wholesome drama set in the Canadian Northwest about a Mountie and a school teacher.  I thought it should be a Hallmark offering which it didn’t seem to be at first, but the second season opening shot credits the Hallmark Channel.  Set in the mining town of Coal Valley, When Calls the Heart brings together wealthy Elizabeth Thatcher, who leaves her upper class city life for adventure in a rustic town, and Jack Thornton, a handsome Mountie, son of a Mountie, who isn’t sure marriage fits in with his life plan.  Add in a host of townspeople (mainly women) and the “bad guy” mine owner and troubles and conflict ensue.  I’m now well into season 2 and I find that the narrative has gained in complexity over the first season.  It’s diverting entertainment.

CASUAL EATERIES

In our dining around, we lunched twice at Chicken Salad Chick and once at Judy’s Restaurant.  Chicken Salad Chick is a chain (headquartered in Alabama) new to this area and very pleasant and attractive.  We’d had one of their many varieties of chicken salad as takeout, but these times we ate in their dining room.  And calling it a dining room is not a stretch.  The front area, in particular, with big windows is light and bright.   We tried the jalapeno chicken salad, the barbecue chicken salad, and the lemon basil version.  We had them over a green salad with a choice of dressings and several packets of wheat crackers.  Each bowl came with a dill pickle and a frosted sugar cookie on the side.  Good value and quite tasty!  My favorite salads thus far are classic and jalapeno.

Judy’s Restaurant, in a small strip mall in Cortez, is run by locals and popular locally.  Lunch here offers up all those good things you aren’t supposed to eat along with some healthier salad options.  Our waitress stated that they had the best Reuben around which the Chief Penguin promptly ordered (with fries) and devoured.  I had a yen for a burger, something I don’t indulge in too often, and found it hit the spot.  Overall, Judy’s was more appealing both in terms of décor and menu than I anticipated. I’m told they serve a mean breakfast!

 

Credits:  Header photo (jacaranda blooms) and Chicken Salad Chick ©JWFarrington; Einstein photo from web via Daily Mirror.