NYC Restaurants: The Meatball Shop, Lupa & Cafeteria

My last trip to New York, I had planned to go to some of my favorite restaurants in the city and document my meals so that I could post them on here. However, early on in my trip, I caught some nasty bug and ended up not eating much of anything for the rest of my time there. Fortunately, I was back in commission this past weekend and was able to capture some delicious plates from a few, great New York City restaurants, and I am so happy to share them with you now!

Our first stop on Saturday was at the Meatball Shop. This was my first experience at this restaurant, and it was a good one. The Meatball Shop is a little, noisy place that easily charms you with their glass milk bottles and mason jar flower arrangements. One fun feature is that they give you expo markers so you can check off what you want on the menu, kind of like the little paper slip you get at sushi restaurants. 

As you can imagine, they serve several kinds of meatballs in many different ways. You can have them plain, on a baguette, mashed on a roll, or on top of a salad. You also get to choose from several different sauces to top on your balls. My favorite part is the option to add "Family Jewels" to several of the menu items-- that means adding a fried egg on top. I couldn't resist, so I obviously checked that off on my clever white board menu.

Below was my dish-- the "Everything but the Kitchen Sink Salad." It came with roasted carrots, fennel, beets, arugula, a chick pea salad and meatballs with sauce. It was a very hearty and balanced plate that left me feeling extremely satisfied. I don't normally love fennel or beets, but I liked them a lot in this dish. The fennel tasted as if it had been roasted with sausage or something. Delish! I would recommend this dish to anyone visiting the Meatball Shop along with a root beer float and/or one of their homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches!

For dinner, we went to Lupa's-- a small, quiet Italian restaurant. Here is Lupa's "Bavette & Cacio Pepe." You've got to know that I didn't order this. I am not black pepper's biggest fan. However, the rest of my family loves it, and this was my sister's birthday dinner of choice. I ordered the Spaghetti Pomodoro, which was a little too spicy for my taste, so I found myself dipping more and more into my sister's Cacio Pepe pasta. The noodles were perfectly tender, and the sauce was so simple yet so divine. It was slightly creamy with the perfect amount of bite from the coarsely ground black pepper. Something about it made the pasta melt in my mouth and slide down my throat with the greatest of ease. Even though I normally don't like pepper, I would absolutely order this dish next time I go to Lupa. For antipasti, I would highly recommend their escarole salad, prosciutto, and mozzarella plates. A friend of mine also ordered the Braised Short Ribs. Although the portion size was very small, the short ribs were extremely tender and rich with flavor.

Overall, I had a great dining experience at Lupa and would love to go back soon!

Just so you can feel more of a part of my night out in NYC... here's my big sis celebrating her 24th with great friends, over amazing food, champagne, and Lupa's "Tartufo" dessert. I can't even tell you exactly what a tartufo is. From what I tasted, my best guess would be that it's gelato mixed with cake, covered in chocolate and chopped nuts. How can you go wrong with a combination like that? I enjoyed it very much and would definitely order it again.

Of course, taking a giant tequila shot before hitting the bar was essential.

Champagne went all around at the Tippler in honor of the birthday girl.

Several hours later, we stopped by Cafeteria before heading home for the night. With my judgement not quite fully intact, this is what I chose to shove in my face... at 3 in the morning... all of it. And it was damn good from what I remember. Homemade potato chips also came with this massive BLT. I don't recall eating those; however, I know for a fact that I left as a member of the clean plate club. Time to solve the mystery of the vanishing potato chips! Just kidding. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know where they really went...

Note to future self: Enjoying several adult beverages before/while attempting to document for my blog is not very efficient. That's all.

Arroz a la Cubana... a la Jordan-a?

Today I've been having one of those off days. I couldn't get out of bed this morning, and when I finally did, I didn't even make my bed! If you know how I live, you know that this is not okay and that I might be ill... I also painted my nails twice and messed them up both times, and I attempted to make home fries for breakfast and burnt the onions to a black crisp. I also have not done any of my homework that is due tomorrow because I've been too busy "productively procrastinating." Then again, there's nothing productive about messed up nail polish and a burnt breakfast. You get the picture; it's just been one of those days. So, because my day has been extremely unsuccessful (on so many levels), I decided to keep my dinner simple yet somewhat experimental. I came across a recipe (that I can't even find, go figure) that appeared to be something like Arroz a la Cubana, and this is my version of it. In others words, it's a less authentic Cuban rice recipe with a little twist, courtesy of yours truly. I'm not sure what to call it, and I don't have the creative juices right now to come up with a name. However, what I do know is that it comes with a fried egg on top, and I live by the fact that everything is better with a fried egg. I'm even known to make salads topped with fried eggs. Also, the best thing to do with leftover stuffing from the holidays is warm it up and put a fried egg on it. You're welcome. So, thank the Dear Lord Baby Jesus this dinner was a success because it was probably the only thing I did right today. Arroz a la Cubana to the rescue!

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup white rice

- 1 tbsp butter

- 1 cup chicken stock

- 1/4 cup tomato sauce

- 1 egg

- 1 to 2 tbsp crumbled feta

- S&P

Directions:

Toss the rice into a pot with a small pat of butter and saute until the rice begins to toast and turn golden brown. Then, add the stock and simmer until the rice is cooked through and there is no stock left in the pot. Once the rice is done, stir in another small pat of butter. I would say that last part is optional, but we all know everything is bettah with a little mo' buttah!

Warm up the tomato sauce and fry one egg until the yolk is at your preferred state of runny-ness. If you really love fried eggs and aren't worried about the extra calories, I recommend doing two eggs. If you are worried about calories but want extra protein, I recommend one egg and one egg white.

Finally, spoon some rice into a bowl, followed by the sauce and fried egg(s). Top with feta cheese, and add S&P to taste. The feta cheese is what adds that little something extra to this dish. I love the zingy punch in the mouth that it delivers accompanied with the richness of the egg yolk. Goat cheese would work really well, also.

You can't go wrong with this recipe. It is so easy and delicious. Enjoy!

Mama's Pot Roast

For whatever reason, winter decided to arrive in March. It's been snowing for the past two days in Boston, and now it's rainy and hazy out, and BLAH is all I have to say about it. Even though I've told myself to keep eating like a rabbit today (especially since I'm headed to NYC tomorrow for a week and can easily predict that I will be eating my face off while I'm there), this weather has left the little foodie voice in my head whispering, "PoOoT RoAaSsSsT!" And, because of the shit weather, I just cannot deny that voice. Not today.

More on this roast. This is another one of my mother's famous dishes. I've asked for this to be my birthday dinner, my friends used to always request it back in high school, and it is one of the first, big meals I learned how to make when I moved to college. If I wanted to make something that everyone would most likely enjoy and that would leave them beyond satisfied, pot roast was the answer. It is comfort in a bowl. And the great thing about it is that it is a one-pot meal. You get to throw all of the ingredients together, pop it in the oven, and forget about it. But don't completely forget. You've got to come back a few hours later to experience the way these flavors come together, and hear the angels sing!

Ingredients:

- 3 lb beef chuck roast

- meat seasonings (I use S&P, garlic powder, onion powder)

- flour

- olive oil

- 2 tbsp butter

- 5 cloves of garlic

- celery

- carrot

- onion

- mushrooms

- potatoes

- a few stems of rosemary

- a few stems of thyme

- 2 to 3 bay leaves

- 2 boxes beef broth

- 2 to 3 cups red wine

- 1 small can tomato paste

- salt

- rice or noodles (to serve with serve with the roast)

Some measurements depend on how chunky/soupy you would like your pot roast to be. I try to use as many veggies as I can fit in the pot without it overflowing (around 3 cups each). You will also need a large pot or dutch oven with a tight fitting lid to prepare this recipe.

Directions: 

To prepare the roast, start by cutting any large, visible pieces of fat or sinew off of the meat. 

Season generously with salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings you like. I normally use onion powder and garlic powder.

Dust the roast with flour and pat off any excess flour before searing.

Turn a large pot on medium-high heat, and add in 1 tablespoon of butter and a drizzle of olive oil.

Sear the meat on all sides.

Sorry, this picture is blurry, but this is the golden brown crust that you want to achieve. Once you have achieved this crust on all sides, set the roast aside.

While you're searing the meat, chop up your onion, celery, and carrots. I like mine in big chunks. You could also avoid some chopping by using a package of baby carrots instead.

Don't you just love my artistic angles??!

Smash your garlic cloves and remove the skins.

When ready, throw another tablespoon of butter into the pot followed by your onion, garlic, celery, and carrots.

Cook the vegetables, while stirring them occasionally, until the onions become soft and translucent. When your veggies are done, set them aside with the roast.

Prepare your herbs for seasoning the liquid base. You can leave your rosemary and thyme on or off the stems. If you leave them on, you can just pick the stems out when the roast is done, but I decided to pinch them off and give them a rough chop instead. Either way is fine.

Dump your beef broth, wine, tomato paste, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and a pinch of salt into the pot. Bring this to a boil and let it reduce by half.

While the broth is reducing, wash and chop your potatoes and mushrooms. I don't saute the mushrooms with the rest of the veggies at first because they will shrink down to nothing if I saute them and cook them with the roast.

Once the broth has reduced, and there is enough room in the pot for all of the other ingredients, toss everything in!

Put the lid on the pot, and pop it in the oven at 350F for a minimum of 4 hours. Pretty soon your house is going to smell like heaven. Or in my case, the whole apartment building.

You might be wondering, "How come you don't just sear the meat in one pan, saute the veggies in another, and reduce the liquid in another to save time and avoid all of the cooking and setting aside?" The reason is the key to this dish-- you have to leave all of the flavors in the same pot. None can escape to the bottom of a pan that gets tossed in the sink where they eventually get washed down the drain. If for whatever reason, you have to use more than one pan, you must make sure to get every fleck of flavor from the bottom of that pan into the next, or you will be at risk of a less flavorful pot roast. I guarantee it.

So. Four and a half hours later... Meat is like buttah!

Take a couple of forks, pull the meat apart, and give it all a big stir. You will be surprised at how easily the roast falls apart.

Serve by itself or on top of rice or noodles, and chow down! It's even better the next day!