Saturday, November 12, 2005
ATL = No Fancy French Restaurants (Part II)
Last post, we left off right about during the time Maxine and I were about to take the F train to Delancy. It was about 2:30pm at that point, and we had tasted at least one of every kind of cookie in that one-pounder from Payard. Without having eating anything savory yet (due to the Hallo Berlin cart disappearance and our laziness to walk all the way to the Soup Nazi), we were looking forward to a change of pace, but first we needed to see what all the hoop-la about the Doughnut Factory was all about.
We finally found the hole-in-the-wall after a brisk walk through dreary drizzle-mist; you know, when it's not wet enough to open up an umbrella, but wet enough to frizz your hair? Anyways, we found the place and were immediately disappointed by the small rack of doughnuts that were for sale. None of the cool funky flavors advertised on the website were offered; only the standard vanilla glazed, chocolate, and unluckily enough, pumpkin. It turned out that the doughnut "flavors" are flavored by the glaze, and not by the batter. Huge disappointment. And at $2 a pop, way overpriced!
To further make our LES excursion a total flop, Gus's pickles was closed, and Il Laboratorio had no interesting gelato flavors. So we quickly made our way back up to W4th for our long anticipated doner kebab from Yatagan.
That is, by far, the hugest kebab rotisserie that I have ever seen in my entire life. But damn, was it good! Maxine and I placed our orders just before a bunch of people wandered into the joint, so we got the bestest crispy part of the meat. When we were done (and stuffed silly), we hopped back onto the subway and headed over to Milk & Cookies Bakery. This is what it looks like from the outside: 
It's a small place, a few chairs and tables, perfect for an NYU student needing some peace and quiet and cookies while preparing for an exam. We deduced that the draw here was the fact that you could have a batch of cookies specially made to order per your specifications; you pick a base (sugar, oatmeal, chocolate, etc), and then add in other ingredients (mint chips, raisins, peanut butter cups, etc). But if you don't live in the area, don't bother visiting Milk & Cookies. It's nothing to write home about.
At 5pm we had dessert reservations at Bouley, a fancy French restaurant off West Broadway. After killing some time at the bakery and market (of the same name) across the street, we walked into the establishment. In between in the heavy wooden main doors and the glass doors that open to the restaurant is this sort of ante-room, no larger than a closet, that is full of shelves of apples, floor to ceiling -- they give off the most wonderful smell! A very nice touch...
We were obviously underdressed for the occasion, me in jeans and a vest, Maxine in black funky pants and a sweater, but we were the first ones in the dining room, so no one (except our waiter/manager/matre d guy) noticed our attire. As we sat down, ordered our waters and received the first round of sneers from the aforementioned guy, I began to get really really self-conscious. Our guy came back to take our orders and almost had a heart attack when he found out we were only intending to have sweets, so when on top of that, we were served the savory amuse-bouche and were offered treats from the bread cart, we felt a bit guild tripped into ordering something from the dinner menu. And so we did -- a triple threat "salad" appetizer called "Panache of Three Salads: Roasted Foie Gras with a Fricassee of Cremini, Hen-of-the-Wood and Shiitake Mushrooms Satay of Scuba Dived Sea Scallop and Florida Shrimp with Fresh Bay Leaf Sauce" for a mere $25. It was absolutely fabulous, and we cleaned the plate. Had we been anywhere else, I'm sure we would have licked the plate so clean that no dishwashing would have been necessary.
Soon after, a dessert amuse was delivered to our tables; it was a concord grape "soup" with candied ginger and a creme fraiche ice-creamy substance that was actually one of the courses on the chef's tasting menu that night. At this point I was absolutely mortified, and our guy must have noticed my facial expression, since he assured me that this dish was "compliments of the chef." No other table that ordered a la carte was served this course, so Maxine and I knew that something was up. When our desserts were served (mine, "Butternut squash macaroons with toasted pumpkin seeds,pomegranatee granite, green tea and white chocolate ice cream" ($12) and Maxine's, "Chocolate banana tart with hot chocolate foam, crunchy pecan nuts, nutmeg tuille, banana and lemon-thyme sorbet" ($14)) our questions were finally answered. Our dude came to us and simple asked "so which of you are in the industry?"
We're still not sure how he came to this conclusion, knowing that we had some interest in dessert dining at Bouley. It could have been the fact that I was copying down the descriptions of the things we were ordering, or perhaps he noticed our very methodological approach to tasting the food, or something else. We still don't know, but all of a sudden he became our bestest friend when Maxine dropped some names and told him where she had worked. They began talking chefs in San Fran and Idon'tt know what else, but it was very fun. When we left, they even gave us lemon tea cakes to take home! It was a blast, and I've found my dream wedding caterer. Just don't tell my dad, he'll get a heart attack.
