cloud city

the brave and the bobo

We went to the New Amsterdam Market on Sunday and tasted porchetta, whiskey and currant pastry, cheeses of many milks, hard cider, Mexican-style Brooklyn chocolate, Long Island wine, pickles, cranberry cider sorbet and Vermont tofu.  The sun shone and the crowd swarmed and snacked.  We bought a few interesting things, including a White Feather chicken from Bobo Poultry Market.  It was small but plump and looked very fresh in its neat plastic wrapper.  When I got it home and opened the plastic, I was surprised to find that it retained its head and feet.  "Surprised" may possibly be a bit of an understatement.  I have never had a complete chicken corpse on my cutting board before.  Thankfully, I had recently gotten an extremely sharp Japanese knife, which gave me a bit of added confidence in confronting the head.  I had to use the kitchen scissors to cut off the feet, which flexed and curled when I stretched the leg to cut the knee joint.  Creepy.  However, it was a delicious chicken.  I made Cook's Illustrated's French chicken in a pot recipe, an old favorite.

At the Bar at Gramercy Tavern

The tavern room was full when we got there, but two seats opened up at the bar and we were glad to take them.  I love the bar!  Gramercy Tavern is at its best in the fall, in my opinion.  The warm look of the room is enhanced by the seasonal decor, and perfectly sets off the autumn menu.  It is fall-themed with a seamless, Disney-ish perfection.  I mean that in a good way.  The food was outstanding, as usual.  We had hot cider with calvados

delectable mushroom lasagna and a house-cured ham and fontina sandwich

pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting inside, and butter pecan ice cream

chocolate pudding with salted caramel and brioche croutons

On the way home, we walked through the Union square Farmers Market to pick up cider, so we can try to duplicate the hot cider/calvados thing.  The smell of the masses of concord grapes was heavenly.

It reminded me of the Gramercy Tavern cocktail recipe I tried recently, with much success: The Concord Crush.  I used seedless concord grapes, which are a recent innovation, and which made the whole thing much simpler.  I also used lemon juice, instead of lime, since that was all I had.  It was nicely balanced and delicious, and a pretty color.  Try it before grape season is over.

The yellow chariot (NY taxi)

Junipero gin, tio pepe fino sherry, st-germain, fresh lemon juice, angostura orange bitters

Bartenders at the manhattan cocktail classic