J'adored last week

the end of a cleanse, foie pattys...

I have had such a fricken blessed week. Full of friends and full of good food. I finished a 2 day cleanse over the weekend where I ate a diet of mainly fruits and veggies ( no carbs or sugar or much protein). I do not do well in that state and am not promoting that by any means but was told by Faye of Nutrifaye that I must do this after a treatment with her. But we bounced back real fast, I promise. ;)

Here’s what I loved

Had Dinner on the roof with the boys ( JAKE + ELIAS)
I made Japanese Curry + Katsu - they drank wine and we watched the sun set. What more do you need from life.

Bar Kabawa + Kabawa. <3

Obsessed. I think I will be here a lot this summer.

Drew described this as the antithesis of Bridges. Which I have in the past slightly criticized - mainly of being a cold place from my few times being there. Lacking heart and everyone is rude except for one person that works there. Kabawa was full of heart. Everyone was happy, curious and engaged. My aunt has a rule when shopping that even if she is looking for an exact item, if the salespeople are not friendly she will not buy from them. Obviously service is hard work, I do it, and we all have our bad moments that can bleed into our work life. But now in the same frame of mind - I am not going to back to restaurants where the people seem miserable - it usually means something else at the core has gone off too. Kabawa was bright - different from my own personal style it is designed to be open and with a feeling true to what they are doing. A reflection of the Caribbean, and contrary to the proper beiges we have been seeing all over NY. We rarely get to see pattys or even rum framed in this way. We arrived at the bar just for a drink. Before I got there Drew put us down for the main dining room, and so after eating a patty we went to have a larger meal. You know I love a patty - and so we had a duck + foie patty ( my mouth is watering writing about this) and I had a rum cocktail that was actually perfect and was served in a wine glass.

main dining room counter

Then we moved over next door to the dining room, this is a prix fixe menu with an option of choices per course and many surprises. We started off the night with fresh tamarind on ice. I think that was my favorite thing of night, perfect in flavor - it fell of the seed like a impeccable gummy. I had the plantain coated in salt cod with scrambled eggs and caviar, which Drew said was probably the best dish he has ever eaten in his whole life. Soft, Salty. I was in a steak mood and thus had the steak- they brought rice and beans to the counter which was absolutely perfect. I will be going back to try the Jerk Duck sausage and the Chuletas Can Can. If you go I would sit at the bar and not at a table. Dessert for me was a coconut sorbet served in cold coconut shell. Perfect.

Thank the goddesses for something new in this beige era of dining. And a great respect to chef Paul for doing his thing so well and perfectly balanced.

Via Carota Takeout with my friend Gray

It was a perfect take out situation. Tons of veg and a roast chicken for me. They did something incredible to their mushrooms.

Field Trip:

My coworker, Hannah, and I went to visit the new grain mill, Brooklyn Grainary + Mill, that is opening in Gowanus. It is crazy to me that there is no one already doing this for the masses local to NYC. 98% Organic and all grains grown locally, I am very excited to try out all of their flours.

Experiments in the home:

Drew wanted to make strawberry ice cream with my great-grandma’s shortbread recipe crumbled in as he saw the first few strawberries at the Green Market. I will say it wasn’t my favorite flavor as I am not one for strawberry ice cream. But I enjoyed the collaboration.

I made us some shrimpys on the grill. Picked them up at Mermaid's Garden which I loved.

Otherwise in all honesty I catered a bagel bunny event for the first time in a few months as I allow myself to break. It was so rewarding and I can acknowledge myself missing parts of it.

More next week . Love you all - eat well - love hard,

Sakura