A Culinary Itinerary

Apologies for the long interlude between this entry and the last, my energetic sister has been in town visiting—consequently, consuming all of my time.

In the last week, however, my sister has provided a perfect excuse for multiple satiary outings into the city.

Hudson Cafeteria, with my boyfriend as a pre-sister arrival celebration, was the first on the list. We arrived in quite the celebratory mood and left disappointed and looking forward to forgetting our meal while wathcing Will Ferrell’s new film—which was (sadly) much higher quality than the meal we received at Hudson. The tuna tartar: tasteless (Will Ferrell’s jokes: tasteless as well, but at least I laughed). The appetizer of mushroom pizza with truffle oil was good, though it was neither appetizer size nor had any trace of truffle oil (or class for that matter). It was just a pizza, similar to the one I ate while watching last Sunday's Entourage premiere. My filet tasted the same as my boyfriend’s lamb, both brisket-y in taste and texture. I, personally, like my brisket to be called brisket and prefer it served by my grandma during Hanukkah dinner.

Jane, a downtown restaurant (just a short walk from the Houston street Subway station), provided a nice setting for a welcome dinner. The toasted ricotta gnocchi appetizer did, indeed, taste like “pillows of heaven” as one of my dining companions promised. The octopus salad literally had one long octopus tentacle, making it hard to share as well as visually a bit hard to stomach. The Ahi Tuna was fine, though I could have just done with the black rice with shitake mushroom and ginger underneath as an entire meal, and done without the overly expensive price tag for underwhelming fish. For desert, perfectly warm and crispy (though still tender inside) chocolate chip cookies with vanilla gelato floating in milk, kept my stomach happy and warm the entire walk home. Altogether, mostly pleasant, though not mind-blowing in any way.

Serendipity, needing no introduction or review to attest to the greatness of the frozen hot chocolate, provided a setting for gorging as well as an “impromptu” photo shoot of my sister and I simultaneously drinking two chocolates at once. All I can say is: do your self a favor and order the Peanut Butter version of their famous treat, sure to give you a sugar hangover for days to come, along with a permanent smile.