new york

has some quality food. yesterday, a large, hand-made ravioli stuffed with shredded pancetta, morels, and fresh english peas, served on a tomato coulis with cubes of steamed squash, micro-basil, and a slice of toasted baguette.

another hiatus

but not for lack of fine dining. tonight at no-name: grilled purple chicory; wide, flat, fresh pasta with lemon, cracked black pepper, and Parmesan; blinis with creamed corn; grilled yellow wax bean bundles wrapped in prosciutto and roasted; a strawberry tart with vanilla bean pastry cream. the wax beans in particular were outstanding: double-cooked, they lost their fibrousness but were still firm and the prosciutto binding rendered out and became crisp and smokey. the pastry cream in the tart was also noteworthy: i initially mistook it for some kind of poppyseed custard but it soon dawned on me that it was actually just packed with tiny black vanilla seeds.