NOLA: Lüke, New Orleans, LA

If you ask who the most famous chef you New Orleans is you may get different answers -- Emeril with his BAM, Paul Prudhomme whose face may have resided in your childhood spice cabinet and John Besh.  Chef Besh has no gimmick but rather a variety of awesome restaurants in New Orleans each demonstrating his southern flair. In my 24-hour stint to NOLA, his name must have come up half a dozen different ways.  It was only fitting that we select one of his establishments for our one and only dinner. 

I chose Lüke for two reasons: 1) its proximity to our hotel and 2)its burger.  The restaurant is defined as a "classic brasserie" so there is a French/German twist on the food, yet given the locale and the chef, there is a touch of classic New Orleans cuisine. 

The restaurant decor is heavily dominated by the large wood bar and the bar menu proves it.  I adored my St. Charles Street Car cocktail with the perfect balance of St. Germaine, Pear Vodka and Champagne.  (Note: I have already tasked JB to re-create this at home). 

While I was originally drawn to Lüke by its burger, I decided to go more classic New Orleans and opted for the jumbo Louisiana shrimp.  The dish was in a personal skillet over the best grits I've ever had, most likely because they were jalapeno cheese grits mixed with andouille and green onion sausages.  If I didn't have table manners, I would have licked the skillet clean. 

And while I didn't have the burger, one of my table mates did and declared it delicious with its bacon,  caramelized onions, tomatoes, Swiss cheese and a heaping portion of house-made fries.

I felt required to get dessert.  My preference, again, was to get something more Southern, but their pastry chef serves more brasserie-type dessert fare.  The crust on my strawberry galette was crispy, buttery and delicious and well-complemented the cheesecake ice cream it accompanied. 

Good news for me is that I'll be back in New Orleans soon and can go back for the burger, and even better, Lüke serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I wonder what their grits are like for breakfast.

Until our next Berger,
KLB

Lüke
333 St. Charles Ave
New Orleans, LA
504.378.2840

lukeneworleans.com

Birthday Lunch: Cowfish, Hampton Bays, NY

If you don't already know, today is my actual birthday.  And what better way to celebrate than an al fresco lunch on the water with JB.  The day threatenened rain, so our original plans were more landlocked, but when I saw the sun come out late morning, we were waterbound. 

I really can't believe we hadn't been to Cowfish already, it is in the neighboring town of Hampton Bays.  Right on the Shinnecock Canal, which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Peconic Bay, Cowfish has something for everyone including tantalizing drinks and a playground for kids with some delicious food and views in between. 

Tuesday at 12:30PM is not a busy time for Cowfish so we were given our choice of table on the upstairs balcony.  Since we've heard that such a table on a busy Saturday night in the summer might have an hour or two wait, we considered ourselves especially lucky.

I imbibed some Sparkling Rose from Bedell Cellars on the North Fork, while JB stuck to freshly made mango iced tea complete with JB's favorite, the Mason Jar as a glass. 

Choosing was difficult, the lunch menu was not as large as I'd hoped.  I settled on a Caesar Salad with added Shrimp and JB, after much agonizing, selected the special, a Fresh Flounder Sandwich.  We both chose well.  My Caesar had cornbread croutons and a sizable amount of crunchy and well-flavored salad.  However, there were only 3 shrimp included on my salad which I found a bit skimpy considering the $8 upcharge. 

JB claimed that his flounder tasted as if it had been caught to order.  Two large fried filets covered the bread, almost po boy-like, and there was a hefty side of coleslaw.  JB loved my cornbread croutons so much that he wanted to get an order of cornbread for dessert and then, fortunately, changed his mind.

Speaking of dessert, since it was my birthday, I wanted my all-time favorite, key lime pie.  Sadly, Cowfish doesn't offer it, so instead we headed over to Holey Moses Cheesecake in Westhampton Beach and picked up a whole pie.  Yum.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Until our next berger (or birthday!),
KLB

Cowfish
258 E. Montauk Hwy,
Hampton Bays, NY
631.594.3868
www.cowfishrestaurant.com

And if you want some truly amazing Key Lime Pie, or cheesecake for that matter, you must try:

Holey Moses Cheesecake.
332 Gabreski Airport # 115
Westhampton Beach, NY
631.849.6220
www.holeymosescheesecake.com

A Light Lunch: Seasons 52, Garden City, NY

Birthday week has arrived! The first event was a light lunch at Seasons 52.  Low calorie food seems to be the theme lately, let's see how long it lasts.  Seasons 52 is a newish chain where all plates are under 475 calories, from appetizers through desserts.  And it is good, really good. 

I had been to the Orlando original back in February and thought the concept was phenomenal.  I'm not usually a fan of chain, mall-type restaurants, but this one is a keeper.

Since it was lunch, we couldn't linger.  Fortunately, Seasons 52 is perfect for lunch and the food is enough to get you through the day without leaving you to fall asleep at your desk with a full stomach. 

Their concept, other than low-cal, is that their menu is seasonal and specials change each week, hence the Seasons 52 name. 

We started with the Ripe Plum Tomato Flatbread.  It was paper thin, the flattest flatbread I've probably ever seen covered in tomatoes with basil, roaster garlic and melted parmesan.  Definitely lighter than pizza and certainly more fresh, we all loved it.  It was tacos as our mall around for our main.  Each dish came with three 3 soft tacos (chimichurri steak or blackened mahi mahi) and we all commented how we need to get taco holders at home.  The tacos were adorned with light, liquidy, toppings including a jalapeno-lime slaw, guac, pico de gallo, mole, salsa and some sour cream on the side.  You can easily tell where they are saving the calories, for example, each taco had only 1 piece of steak on it, but I will repeat that everything was delicious.

And since we had a light entrees, there was room for dessert.  My favorite part of Seasons 52 is the dessert course.  The server brings over a candelabra-type shot glass holder, and each shot glass has a dessert in it - they call them "Mini-Indulgences".  The server then explains each dessert (sort of like an old-fashioned dessert cart), you make your 250-calorie choice and said dessert is plucked from its holder and handed to you. 

My Key Lime Pie dessert was layered with graham cracker crust and key lime filling and worth every one of those 250 calories.  We all wanted more, and I guess that's the point.  We'll be back. 

Until our next Berger,
KLB

Seasons 52
@ Roosevelt Field Mall
630 Old Country Road
Garden City, NY
516.248.5252

On the Side:  Seasons 52 is all across the country, find the closest location near you: http://www.seasons52.com/locations/

A Graduation Celebration: Baby Moon, Westhampton Beach, NY

When Big Z graduated from Pre-K, we all deserved a celebration, and we let him choose the location.  Letting a 4-year old choose the restaurant can be riskly, fortunately the guest of honor requested pasta and fries, so we settled on Baby Moon, an Italian joint in Westhampton Beach.  I call it a joint, because that's what it is - old school Italian.  It is not fancy old-school Italian like Carbone (which I drooled about in this week's New York Times review with its amazing food and tuxedo-clad waiters), rather it is your typical pizzeria upfront, dining room in back crowd-pleaser Italian. 

Given that it is still not technically Hamptons high season, Baby Moon had only one of their two dining rooms open tonight in addition to the pizzeria.  It was packed.   Ironically, not with other graduates - I guess not too many parents take a 3 and 4 year old out for dinner starting at 7:45 but hey it was a special occasion.   

Dinner started with a plate of hot garlic knots.  They looked greasy and were greasy (and delicious), although not too garlickly.  We immediately ordered a second batch.  The second batch seemed more like crescent rolls brushed with garlic and olive oil, not that I'd complain about that.

Since it was pushing 8:00 on Wednesday night, we skipped starters and went straight to mains.  Bubba immediately chose the Chicken Cacciatore and we learned long after we ordered that the kitchen was out.  Out of chicken cacciatore?  That did not make much sense. She craned her neck to see what looked good on the other tables and by sight selected the Rigatoni Baby Moon.  Turns out her split second decision was a good one. We all enjoyed this rigatoni dish that had asparagus, peas and eggplant all covered in a tasty Tomato Sauce.  Definitely something to try re-creating at home. 

Best chose a sausage and peppers hero.  An odd choice for dinner, but Best often makes odd dinner choices.  I managed just one taste of sausage, it was well-cooked with slightly dominant fennel flavor.

JB selected one of my all time favorites, Organic Chicken Milanese with a chopped salad on top.  I prefer my Chicken pounded extraordinarily thin, the thickness here was close to 1/2 inch - too thick for me, alas he enjoyed it.

 I had eaten more than my share of garlic knots, and was therefore drawn to the Low Carb Chicken Parmesan from their light menu.  While I do prefer Full Carb Chicken Parmesan, I felt compelled to choose the grilled chicken instead of breaded and the fat-free mozzarella instead of full fat.  
And the boys got their fries and bowties.  They didn't talk much about their dinners, but I will tell you that we brought home leftover bowties and no fries. 

I'd be willing to put money on the fact that there aren't any homemade desserts here.  Nonetheless, Big Z indulged on a Tartufo and Little D shared a lemon sorbet in the lemon itself with Best and me.  Yes, they were good and if you want them, I'm pretty sure you can also get them at Trader Joe's. 

The meal certainly had it's highs and lows, but all in all it was good.  I'd love to go back in high season to see if there are any differences. I'm fairly sure that JB, Big Z and Little D all want to go again.

Until our next Berger,
KLB

Baby Moon
238 Montauk Hwy 
Westhampton Beach, NY
631.288.6350
www.babymoonrestaurant.com

Best Long Island Sushi: Kotobuki, Babylon, NY

When JB and I first moved from NYC to the East End of Long Island, good sushi was hard to find.   We asked friends, neighbors, strangers for recommendations and we always got the same answer: Kotobuki in Babylon.  It wasn't exactly next door, but we craved good sushi, so we made the worthwhile journey. And worthwhile it was - fresh and inventive, it soon became our fave.  We hadn't been in awhile, and were lucky enough to pay them a visit last night.

Right on the main street in Babylon village, Kotobuki is an unassuming sushi den (not like its Pan-Asian neighbor, Monsoon, that is larger than life with a smoking hot hostess trying to lure in diners).  At 6:30 on a summer Saturday, there were still a few tables but the sushi bar seemed appealing.  JB likes to watch the masters at work.  Mind you, by 8PM, there was probably a line out the door. 

We had concert tickets and were pressed for time, so we had previewed the menu on the drive.  I glanced at the menu again, while drinking my Kirin light and nibbling on their gratis spicy noodles, and was swayed by the specials.   

Atop the Specials, I was immediately (and obviously) drawn to this:

K-MAC SLIDERS

chopped tuna, rice, tempura flakes, scallion “patties” topped w/avocado, romaine hearts & spicy mayo on a rice cracker “bun”

Sushi sliders?  Yes, please!

The "Grinch Roll" also enticed us --
spicy tuna, yellowtail, crunchy, scallion roll w/ avocado & cayenne pepper on top

 And then we went with a few standards, a Crunchy Yellowtail and their standard, the Crazy Roll - where they let you choose the fish, we chose tuna, and they add it to a tobiko and avocado roll topped w/ diced fish, tempura flakes, scallions and a spicy mayo concoction.

If that wasn't enough, JB decided he needed to try their Hand Roll entree which is 5 hand rolls - 1 tuna, 1 yellowtail, 1 salmon, 1 eel and 1 california roll  (we swapped this out for another salmon) - PLUS 2 pieces of salmon roe, or as Mr. Japanese orders it, ikura. 

The food came fast, furious and delicious.  

The sliders really looked like little sushi burgers and we loved them, despite the fact that they fell apart after the first bite.  (Note to sushi chef: Bite size sliders would work better here).  Our special grinch roll was on fire, that cayenne pepper they reference in the description is not your run of the mill cayenne, but some kind of Japanese heat enhancer.  The Crazy and the Cruncy were awesome as always, however, the Crazy and the Grinch were more similar than I realized.  Next time I might opt for another kind of fish. 

JB's hand roll platter, aka an exercise of overindulgence, was a treat for him.  He usually gets 1 hand roll for "dessert", tonight he had 5.  Mind you this entree also came with miso soup and salad. 

I pronounced myself stuffed with a few pieces of sushi to go.  And before I knew it someone had finished all of the remaining sushi.

Good thing, because we had a show to catch.

Until our next Berger,
KLB

Kotobuki
86 Deer Park Ave.
Babylon, NY
631.321.8387
www.kotobukinewyork.com

Side Dish: Good news! They have 2 other Long Island locations, Hauppauge and Roslyn.  AND, they have an NYC location in the East Village.  So there's no excuse not to try their sushi sliders.

Berger Review! Happy National Hamburger Day: Smashburger, Wantagh, NY

Today is a great day to be a Berger, a Burger or any kind of "burger" variation.  Why you might ask?  Because it's National Hamburger Day which equates to free burgers at Smashburger. 

Today I am also thankful for social media because I received one Facebook post and one Facebook private message with the awesome tip, plus a late breaking email from Grub Street, New York magazine's food and restaurant blog.

The deal is simple - 1 free classic burger when you show a burger-affiliated ID.  I knew very little about Smashburger, we are more In-n-Out, Steak N' Shake or Five Guys people when it comes to chains, so I was ready for a taste. 

There is a Smashburger that is sort of on my way home from work.  And when I left work late, saw the rain and corresponding traffic, I knew that a somewhat circuitious route on side roads would probably not take much longer than sitting in a parking-lot like parkway.

I called JB and he agreed to the plan, with a caveat.  He wanted one, too.  I reiterated the 1 burger per burger policy, but JB, ever the loophole-finder texted me a photo of his license. 

The restaurant was pleasantly bright, especially with the gloomy rain outside, and full of families (other Bergers perhaps?) enjoying their meals.  Smashburger is a "Fast Casual" establishment, meaning you order your food at the counter, pay, take your seat and await your server who deposits said food on your table.

I explained my fate to the counterpeople, flashed my ID and presto, I had two free burgers.  The official deal was 1 Classic.  I opted for 1 Classic with the works and 1 Classic completely plain. 7 minutes later my food was deposited at a stand up bar and I was on my way.

Both burgers had an excellent egg bun but just an average burger.  The burger was much bigger than a typical fast food burger, but it lacked taste.  The bun was greasy and buttery.  JB's works included

American cheese, smash sauce, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion.  The smash sauce tasted remarkably like mustard, but who can complain - it was completely free. 

 

Since it's a chain, I'll add it to the list of stops on a future road trip.  I think big Z and little D (aka the sliders) would like it, too. 

 

Until our next Berger,

KLB

 

Smashburger - Wantagh

1223 Wantagh Ave

Wantagh, NY

516.308.4772

 

You can have Smashburger all over the country.  Find your closest location

 

Egg-xtra, Egg-xtra, Read All About It:Thomas's Ham and Eggery, Carle Place, NY

Excuse the pun, but I rarely go out to lunch on a workday (except to pick up my bacon tofu salad at Fairway), so I needed to share my excitement. 

Thomas's Ham and Eggery is a diner institution near the shopping mecca known as Roosevelt Field in Carle Place on Long Island.  It is a classic diner via it's style (retro booths & tables), service (gruff & slow) and food (eggs & such, hence their name). 

So let's talk about those eggs.  All egg dishes arrive in their own skillet.  It's pretty genius if you ask me -- patrons love the kitschiness factor and there are less dishes to wash. 

Unfortunately, there were challenges with our order.  The egg white omelet with swiss and broccoli, came with cheddar instead.  It was nearly impossible to locate any chicken sausage in the leek and chicken sausage frittata. And the bacon in the bacon and eggs was devoid of any salt flavor. 

But mostly we were too hungry and eventually too full to notice.

It seemed there were a lot of regulars here.  Maybe if we became regulars they'd get our order right.  Maybe. 

Until our next Berger,
KLB

Thomas's Ham and Eggery
325 Old Country Rd, Carle Place, NY

516.333.3060

No website, click here to link to the menu