Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote – A New Dining Style for NY

Last night I met up with friends at Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote on Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street. This is french bistro dining taken to the simplest form – the waitress arrives at your table and presents you with four options (blue, rare, medium, well done). Don’t bother asking for your steak cooked medium-rare as one of my dining companions did – this just means you weren’t listening to the waitress. You are able to select wine from a small wine list that follows a similar form to the whole theme. We tried the house bottle of bordeaux for $19.99.

Once you have placed your order you’ll get a simple salad dressed in a wonderful tart mustard vinaigrette with walnuts followed by steak frites cooked per your request. The steak arrives covered in a secret sauce which is a well done enhancement to both the steak and the fries. The steak was not the steak I have had, the sauce not the most mind-boggling, the fries alone won’t blow your mind, and the wine is what you would expect for $19.99. But here’s the interesting thing, it all works really well. I love this place for its simplicity. Everyone’s writing about recession specials, but for $48 (including a generous tip) I had salad, steak frites, a couple of glasses of wine, a shared portion of profiteroles, and a glass of dessert wine. The only question I have is why did they open on 52nd and Lex and not closer to my apartment?

A little background on the restaurant: New York is not the first stop for owner Paul Gineste de Saurs. He started in Porte Maillot with the sole intention of creating a market for his family’s wines (Chateau de Saurs) from South West France. Not having a restaurant background, he wanted to start by keeping the menu simple. What is more simple and french than salad and steak frites. I just love the simplicity of this place – drink our wine, eat what we tell you.

Iced Coffee – A New Addict

I recently tried making a cold brewed iced coffee using a NY Times recipe which I linked to from a friend’s Tweet (winenutnyc). Cold brewed ice coffee is just a wonderful rich, smooth, deep, rounded drink. It has all the essential flavors of the coffee.

I have also taken this a step further and started creating ice with the cold brewed coffee. This creates a whole new level of richness and depth as the melted ice actually enhances the flavor of the iced coffee rather than diluting it.

Take a whiff of the coffee while it is cold brewing – it smells like the true essence of coffee – pure coffee heaven.

Recipe:
- 1/3 cup ground coffee (medium-coarse grind is best)
- 1 1/2 cups of filtered water

In a jar/pot, stir together ground coffee and the water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve, or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add milk.
Yield: Two drinks.

Grouper with Heirloom Tomatoes and Potatoes

No food porn here, but I did make a delicious dish last evening: Grouper fillet roasted over sliced heirloom tomatoes and small white potatoes. Since I am in Florida, the grouper fillet was local caught and looked delicious at Whole Foods. It is tough buying food and vegetables here because it is off-season and there aren’t that many people around buying groceries. I am amazed at how stores like Whole Foods and Fresh Market survive these off-seasons since they have to put enough fresh food (meat, fish, vegetables, etc.) on the shelves to avoid looking like an Eastern European food market during the Cold War, but balance trying not to overstock.

The fillet was large enough to probably feed three people and was simply seasoned with salt and pepper. I set the oven to 400 degrees on the roast convection setting. I cut up the small white potatoes into 1/3 inch slices, coated in olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The potatoes were roasted first on their own and after about 15 minutes, I added the sliced heirloom tomatoes on top of the potatoes and the fillet on top of the tomatoes. After about 20 minutes, the juices from the tomatoes have started to run and the grouper will be cooked. To serve portion out the fillet, put sliced tomatoes on top of the portions, and pour the juices on top.

Tender, juicy, fresh – a delicious and easy way to serve a meaty, flaky, white fish.