Fine Dining at Its Finest (Eleven Madison Park)

"Duck for Two" - with Puréed Fennel, Compressed Persimmon, and Citrus-Infused Duck Jus

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Year! That's what happens when I neglect my blog for over a month. I could delve into all of the reasons why I haven't written on here in a while, but nobody cares, so I'll just move on to the good stuff. About a month ago, just before my brother departed for a three-week-long vacation to Hong Kong and southeast Asia, the two of us splurged on a lunch at Eleven Madison Park. And when I say the two of us splurged, I mean my brother splurged, since I'm a penniless medical student with no source of income who freeloads off of others. Thanks, big bro!

Thankful (Marea)

Spaghetti - Fresh-Cut Seminola Pasta, Crab, Santa Barbara Sea Urchin, Basil

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection and appreciation. With the current state of the world -- political unrest, economic instability, etc. -- I am thankful for a bunch of things. I'm thankful for having such a loving and supportive family. I'm thankful for my awesome friends. I'm thankful for my health, happiness, and overall well-being. And, despite all of my bitching and moaning, I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend medical school and to ultimately have the honor of becoming a physician. As the preclinical part of the curriculum winds down, I am experiencing a mixture of excitement and anxiety over the prospect of hitting the wards for clerkships -- excitement because I'll be doing a lot more "doctoring" rather than sitting through lectures, anxiety because I feel unprepared and am scared of screwing up big-time. To the best of my knowledge, killing a patient during clerkships isn't something that residency programs are looking for. Amid all of this upcoming change, one small fact hasn't been lost on me -- namely, the fact that I will no longer be able to take advantage of the fantastic lunch prix fixe deals offered at restaurants throughout the city.

The Art of the Prix Fixe (L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon)

Razor clams fricassee with confit tomatoes, sweet onion, and macaroni

With NYC's Restaurant Week in full swing, I can't help but feel a twinge of regret at not being able to partake in the promotion (Restaurant Week is such a misnomer when it lasts for two weeks). But after thinking about it a little bit, Restaurant Week really isn't that great. Many restaurants in NYC that participate in Restaurant Week offer cheap dishes (chicken, hanger steak, ice cream) not normally found on their regular menus while cramming additional tables into their dining rooms. All of this detracts from the dining experience and means that the few restaurants that are actually worth going to -- The Modern and Maialino, for instance, reportedly have very good menus -- are going to be fully booked. Fortunately, many restaurants in NYC these days are offering year-round prix fixe menus, allowing diners the option of enjoying nice meals consisting of dishes that are actually off of the regular menu at top restaurants without breaking the bank. My lunches at Del Posto, Bouley, Aldea, and 15 East are some of the most memorable meals I've enjoyed, and all were reasonably priced. Always in search of a good prix fixe menu, I was looking up restaurants in London when I came across the lunch prix fixe offered at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Color me intrigued.

Trendy Eating Doesn't Have to be Offal: Head-to-Tail Eating (St. John)

Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad

Trends come and go. Like the changing of the seasons, trends arrive on the scene, linger for a while, and then slowly fade away, giving way to a new trend. Just like a child with ADD who is preoccupied with a shiny new toy only until a different and even shinier toy catches their eye, Americans are always on the look-out for the next trend to take the country by storm. Hipster-dom, social media, and reality television are just some of the latest cultural trends to sweep our nation. Similarly, trends and fads can be seen in the domain of food. For a while, you couldn't go a month without hearing about a new cupcake shop opening up, and gourmet burgers made with "custom blends" of meat, a la Pat LaFrieda or any other specialty butcher, have also become quite popular. A culinary fad that has developed, albeit with less widespread fanfare but with perhaps just as much strength, is the consumption of offal and other organ meat, a.k.a. "head-to-tail" eating. These days, it seems like more and more restaurants are serving up sweetbreads, bone marrow, or kidneys to increasingly discriminating and sophisticated customers. Personally, I think people are trying out these new foods simply because it is fashionable and a sign of sophistication and social status if one can say that they have eaten veal sweetbreads or tripe, but that's just me being cynical, and the fact of the matter is that offal dishes are becoming increasingly more mainstream and evoking less disgust-tinged reactions (ewww you ate calf brains?!) from the general public. And among restaurants focusing on this area of cuisine, St. John is one of the preeminent restaurants in the world leading this culinary trend.