i am now 30 years old - shazam!
i have so many people to thank for making my birthday week very special. my coworkers who took me out for a snazzy italian lunch on friday (linguini bolognese followed by tiramisu and and iced espresso with coffee beans in it) and got me a gift card from macy's, you guys rock! then of course big thanks go out to christy for schlepping my absolutely perfect birthday present up from d.c. and then partying with me the whole weekend long! thanks for the giant 3 and 0 balloons we snuck into the beer garden too! and thanks to choi for bringing her homespun balloons! thanks to both choi and christy for treating me to dinner and karaoke ("iiii wannnnt it thaaaat waaaay!"). and thanks to my mom for getting the sweet custom green and purple M&Ms that said alternately "rosie's 30!" and "rosie rocks!"
of course the weekend could not have been complete or a full celebration of my birthday without a food bender. it was all french and japanese so it included:
- friday sushi dinner with christy at sushi park. giant sushi platter for two and lots of sake. yeah.
- saturday brunch in astoria with christy at brick café: tuna tartare with avocado mousse, my favorite. we were about to get dessert when we realized we had to leave for the beer garden to make it on time for my party
- saturday dinner at typhoon, formerly my favorite izakaya but now a distant second to yokocho for reasons i'll explain in just a moment. we did like the gyoza and the goma-ae but the renkon (lotus root) sandwich thing was... wack...
- sunday brunch in astoria at le sans souci. yum! limitless coffee (wish i had noticed the café crème on their menu before ordering american coffee but i'll correct that next time) and then a frisée aux lardons that brought even non-salad-loving me to my knees. i will seek that out in the future. i saw escargots on the menu and made a mental note of that for my next visit
- sunday dinner at yokocho, currently my top-ranked izakaya. the fatty salmon sashimi and yaki-geso (fried squid legs with mayo) were divine with the draft asahi. i can also vouch for the octopus with wasabi, the crab croquettes and the kinpira renkon
- monday (actual birthday) dinner with mom at lil bistro 33. the crab salad and goat cheese croquette appetizers... i have no words. i had the seared yellowfin tuna with roasted foie gras and had even less words after that. got to talk to the chef as they were closing and get some good dirt about the astoria restaurant scene. that place is a labor of love and he's just breaking even. considering the outrageously good food he's turning out it should not have to be so, but he's scouting new locations for a slightly larger space and i will make a point of going back often to support them (and eat more of his terrific food)
that may be about it. great weekend from a food perspective. oh yeah, i attended a cheese tasting course on thursday too. and i did some recon on bon vieux temps, yet another tempting addition to astoria's kickin' french food scene along with the places i've listed above plus the noted 718. i've been a busy girl. ;-)
more food adventures are on the way as mom and i are headed somewhere spiffy TBD for lunch on sunday and my dad's coming down to visit in about two weeks for my birthday (couldn't come now because of a master class). we're going back to the brandy library. i'm so ready. bring on the foie gras and the armagnac. i should turn 30 every day!
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