2/04/2010
Mistral's brunch
A quick word about the brunch at Mistral Restaurant in Boston, which we blundered into one our recent trip to the "Hub" for a conference. This is one of the best brunches, served with the most cheer, I've ever had. Whether it was the cinnamon bread offered as a sort of amuse, or the extremely generous lump crab omelet or superb Eggs Benedict, I've nothing bad to say. And all that's still leaving out the shared cast iron pot of pommes lyonnaise that arrive upon the order of any entree. Highly recommended.
Blurgh?
Let's stop for a moment and pay some well deserved tribute the single worst home finance columnist writing today* - the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary.
Challenged about her dictim that the husband ought to take the lead in home finance, she came up with this answer during today's chat:
"And yes in this day when so many marriages are failing because there is no order or respect, I do believe my husband is the head of my household but that doesn't mean I'm subservient. We talk about everything. We are a partnership but even in a partnership someone HAS to take the lead. In law firms with many partners there is a lead partner. That's all I'm talking about".
Yes, but why in the name of anything should that leader be the husband? Might each couple not want to pick, say, the person most suited for the job, or something like that? Nope, according to Ms. Singletary. Outdated social norms will do her just fine.
* Anyone who doubts the label I've given Ms. Singletary is welcome to peruse some of her work. She specializes particularly in advice that is mathematically wrong, but it's all choice stuff.
Challenged about her dictim that the husband ought to take the lead in home finance, she came up with this answer during today's chat:
"And yes in this day when so many marriages are failing because there is no order or respect, I do believe my husband is the head of my household but that doesn't mean I'm subservient. We talk about everything. We are a partnership but even in a partnership someone HAS to take the lead. In law firms with many partners there is a lead partner. That's all I'm talking about".
Yes, but why in the name of anything should that leader be the husband? Might each couple not want to pick, say, the person most suited for the job, or something like that? Nope, according to Ms. Singletary. Outdated social norms will do her just fine.
* Anyone who doubts the label I've given Ms. Singletary is welcome to peruse some of her work. She specializes particularly in advice that is mathematically wrong, but it's all choice stuff.
2/03/2010
The Breslin
"But avoid the beef shin with polenta and black cabbage at all costs. It’s muddy in flavor, terribly dry", said Sam Sifton, the New York Times food reviewer. And yet that's the dish we enjoyed most on our visit to the Breslin a few weeks ago, an evocation of a Franco-Italian mother's sunday stew, neither muddy or dry. Did Sifton go on an off night? Does he dislike stew? Is his taste not a useful proxy for mine? I'm not yet sure.
To be honest, we were first drawn to The Breslin by the extraordinary coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, which shares the first floor of the Ace Hotel with the Breslin. As an aside, I am now entirely unsure whether the best coffee in Manhattan belongs to Stumptown or to Zibetto, which fueled me twice daily during a 4 month trial in the Southern District of New York I recently completed. I have started to be converted to Stumptown - the staff there has mastered the art of micro-foam to a degree I had not realized possible.
In any case, with the inimitable April Bloomfield at the controls, and a 1 star review from the apparently hard-to-please Sifton, the buzz factor at The Breslin is high. And faux-speak easy decor aside, for once the buzz is well deserved. We snacked on an exquisite smoked salmon, smoked lightly in the kitchen (with lemon butter sauce), enjoyed a crisp brussel sprout and duck salad (with various smoked meats), and finished our meal with a joyful evocation of sticky toffee pudding, the greatest of the British boiled puddings, in my view (soaked, of course, in butterscotch and served with ice cream). As Mr. Sifton says, The Breslin is "10 colors of fat", and on that - unlike on the beef shin - we agree entirely.
To be honest, we were first drawn to The Breslin by the extraordinary coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, which shares the first floor of the Ace Hotel with the Breslin. As an aside, I am now entirely unsure whether the best coffee in Manhattan belongs to Stumptown or to Zibetto, which fueled me twice daily during a 4 month trial in the Southern District of New York I recently completed. I have started to be converted to Stumptown - the staff there has mastered the art of micro-foam to a degree I had not realized possible.
In any case, with the inimitable April Bloomfield at the controls, and a 1 star review from the apparently hard-to-please Sifton, the buzz factor at The Breslin is high. And faux-speak easy decor aside, for once the buzz is well deserved. We snacked on an exquisite smoked salmon, smoked lightly in the kitchen (with lemon butter sauce), enjoyed a crisp brussel sprout and duck salad (with various smoked meats), and finished our meal with a joyful evocation of sticky toffee pudding, the greatest of the British boiled puddings, in my view (soaked, of course, in butterscotch and served with ice cream). As Mr. Sifton says, The Breslin is "10 colors of fat", and on that - unlike on the beef shin - we agree entirely.
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