LI Restaurant Review - MP Taverna

Welcome back foodies! Last night I went to MP Taverna by Michael Psilakis and I had an incredible meal. Everything that I ordered was off the hook. I was also very fortunate to meet chef Michael Psilakis. He was very nice and personable. He also signed his cookbook, How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking, for me.
Here is my review:

MP Taverna           1363 Old Northern Blvd. Roslyn, NY 11576

(Dinner)

It seems like you can't make a bad decision when it comes to ordering at MP Taverna by Michael Psilakis. Every dish I ordered was very good. All of the appetizers were delicious and my favorite was the Meatballs. They were full of flavor and were in a tomato sauce with olives and onions. My second favorite appetizer was the Loukaniko (or Greek Sausage). The sausage was incredible with an amazing texture. It wasn't a hard or soft sausage. It was somewhat in the middle. With a squeeze of lemon on top you can't go wrong. I also had the Spicy Pork Ribs. The ribs were seasoned great and had a lot of flavor. The pork ribs also came with smashed potatoes which was a potato wedge that was smashed. I have to say I still enjoyed the ribs tremendously but compared to the other two dishes, it comes in third place. Moving on to the entrees, my favorite was the Prawn and Green Vegetable Risotto with arugula, peas, fava beans, zucchini and dill. I enjoyed the flavors of the dish as well as the texture that the peas gave to it. My second favorite dish were the Dumplings with spicy lamb sausage, sun-dried tomato, pine nut, spinach, and tomato sauce. The dish was very unique. The dumplings themselves were like little fluffy cloud that sucked in all of the flavors on the plate. The lamb sausage gave it an interesting flavor and was definitely a highlight of the dish. My third favorite dish was the Simply Grilled Salmon. The salmon was cooked beautifully and was grilled with nothing but salt, pepper, and a little bit of an olive oil and lemon mixture. It wasn't oily at all and very good. The salmon also came with a side salad which was the MP Salad. It was pretty much a Greek Salad and I felt it was good. Another thing I ordered was the Beef Burger. It came with a spicy whipped feta and smashed potatoes. It was good but nothing super special. For desserts everything was great. The one that stood out the most was the Galaktoboureko Parfait which was a custard with kataifi, caramelized honey, smoked almonds, raspberries and cara cara orange segments. My second favorite dish was the Apple "Baklava" Napoleon. It tasted really great and phyllo dough layers gave the dish a great texture. One more dish I ordered was the Chocolate Halva Brownie with tahini creme anglaise and tahini ice cream. It was good but it wasn't my favorite dessert. Everything was truly spectacular at MP Taverna. I cannot wait to get back to MP Taverna.

• Service - Great 
• Decor - Great
• Atmosphere - Great 
• Food - Incredible 
• Price - Decent
• Highly Recommend (since everything was so good here is just a few of my absolute favorite dishes that I ordered):
• Meatballs
• Loukaniko (or Greek Sausage)
• Spicy Pork Ribs
•  Prawn and Green Vegetable Risotto
•  Dumplings
•  Galaktoboureko Parfait

 

I really think MP Taverna is one of the best restaurants on Long Island and I really want to return soon. I highly recommend this place. Check back soon for more restaurant reviews and more on what foodie things are happening in New York City and Long Island. Bon Apetit!

-Mike

Update #4 for March - July 2011 Event Calendar

Hi foodies! I have some more events to add to the March - July 2011 food event calendar.  I have a few to add right now because they are happening soon and the rest of the events should be up in the next week or two. Here they are:

New York, NY – Columbus Circle              (Borders – 10 Columbus Circle)

Meet founder &editor of restaurantgirl.com and judge on Top Chef Masters, Danyelle Freeman

Book Signing- Try This

Date & Time:

6/ 8/ 2011
Starts at - 7:00 p.m.

Book Costs $16.99

http://www.borders.com/online/store/EventView?city=&state=&zipCode=&within=&all_stores=&selectedStoreId=12278&eventId=368549&

New York, NY      (The Beard House –167 West 12th Street)

Enjoy a fabulous meal at the Beard House prepared by Anita Lo, owner of Annisa and former contestant on Top Chef Masters, and Jason Lett

Dinner Event

Date & Time:

6/ 9/ 2011
Starts at – 7:00 P.M

Dinner Price For:

James Beard Foundation Members - $130

General Public - $170

Contact: 212-627-2308

For more information and to see the menu visit:

http://www.jamesbeard.org/?q=node/2761

New York, NY      (The Beard House –167 West 12th Street)

Enjoy a fabulous meal at the Beard House prepared by Michael Lomonaco, Wayne Harley Brachman, and Roger Dagorn, all from Porter House New York

Dinner Event

Date & Time:

6/ 15/ 2011
Starts at – 7:00 P.M

Dinner Price For:

James Beard Foundation Members - $155

General Public - $205

Contact: 212-627-2308

For more information and to see the menu visit:

http://www.jamesbeard.org/?q=node/2765

New York, NY            (De Gustibus Cooking School, Macy’s Herald Square – 151 West 34th Street, 8th Floor)

Watch and meet Food Network Star and the executive chef of Butter and The Darby, Alex Guarnaschelli

Cooking Class

APP-earing on the Food Network: Class #2

Date & Time:

6/ 22/ 2011 (this class was rescheduled, the old date was 4/ 26/ 2011)
Starts at – 5:30 – 8:00 P.M

Class Price: $95

Contact: 212-239-1652

Click here to register              

For more information visit:

http://www.degustibusnyc.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=45&func=details&did=326

New York, NY      (The Beard House –167 West 12th Street)

Enjoy a fabulous meal at the Beard House prepared by Marc Forgione, executive chef and owner of Marc Forgione

Dinner Event

Date & Time:

6/ 27/ 2011
Starts at – 7:00 P.M

Dinner Price For:

James Beard Foundation Members - $130

General Public - $170

Contact: 212-627-2308

For more information and to see the menu visit:

http://www.jamesbeard.org/?q=node/2772

  All of these events have been added to the food event calendar. I have a few more events to add very soon as well as more restaurant reviews. Bon Apetit!

-Mike

2011 Madison Square Park Eats Festival: A Lot Of Fun!

Welcome back foodies! Yesterday I visited the Madison Square Park Eats Festival and it was very cool. The festival is right in front of the park and not very big but the food that I got was very good. I only got a taste of the festival because I was just there for a snack since I had dinner reservations a little while after (I went to Otto so expect a review on that soon).

I went to one of three stands. The first stand I visited was the P&H Soda Co. This stand sells all natural sodas. The soda was full of flavor and very refreshing.The two sodas I bought was a grapefruit soda and pineapple hibiscus soda. There were other flavors like cream, lime, ginger and a few more.

My second stop was Sigmund Pretzelshop. This stand sold many different flavored pretzels. I just got a salted pretzel. It was just okay to me. It was nothing unique so I wouldn't say it would be my first choice if I go back to the festival. 

 My final stop was at Calexico. I thought this stand was incredible. Calexico serves awesome Mexican food. I ordered a Pollo Verde Taco and a Chipotle Pork Quesadilla. The Pollo Verde Taco was slow cooked chicken in a tangy tomatillo sauce, pickled jalapenos, cotija cheese wrapped in a warm corn tortilla. It was very good but I think the Chipotle Pork Quesadilla was better. The quesadilla was cheddar, monterey jack, pulled pork, and pickled onions inside a flour tortilla and served with a chipotle "crack" sauce on the side. Both dishes were great. Calexico has four locations. Two of them are restaurants and two are food carts. One restaurant is in Redhook, Brooklyn and the other is in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. One of the food carts are in Worth Square which is on 24th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. The other food cart is temporarily closed but is normally located on Wooster and Prince in SoHo, Manhattan. I hope to return to Calexico because their food was amazing. Click here to visit their site to check out their hours and menu's.

If you are in the Madison Square Park area I definitely recommend heading over to the festival. It was a lot of fun and a great way to find some great places to eat. Lot's of cool things are happening in that little area. When I was at the the festival I watched a whole lamb being seasoned and then cooked on a rotisserie. The lamb was being prepared by a stand called Illi. Try to make it down to the Madison Square Park Eats Festival soon because it ends June 3rd. Bon Apetit!

-Mike

2011 New York City Wine And Food Festival: tickets go on sale soon

Hello foodies! I just wanted to keep you updated on the 2011 New York City Wine and Food Festival. The actual event runs from Thursday, September 29 -  Sunday, October 2. Also, tickets go on sale June 20th but, if you use any American Express Card you receive pre-sale access to all events, 15% off Grand Tasting tickets and Speed Line Access. The pre-sale will be going on from Monday, June 6 at 9:00 am until Sunday, June 19 at 11:59 pm. All the events will be up on their website by late May (I will send out a post when this does happen). Here are some events from last year that will be coming back for this year as well as some new events (By the way, this information below is from the New York City Wine and Food Festival's newsletter called Big Apple Juice).

Some returning events...

• San Pellegrino's Meatball Madness hosted by Giada de Laurentiis
• Chelsea Market After Dark hosted by Emeril Lagasse
• Blue Moon Burger Bash presented by Pat LaFrieda Meats, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg (filling in for Rachael Ray this year)
• Godiva Chocolatier presents Sweet hosted by Sandra Lee
• Tacos & Tequila hosted by Bobby Flay
• Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite with Culinary Demonstrations presented by KitchenAid
• Wine Seminars presented by Food & Wine
• Cooking Channel's Meatpacking Uncorked presented by The Corcoran Group

Some new events...

• Rock and Bowl with Anne Burrell
• Fried hosted by Tyler Florence and Elizabeth Karmel
• The Neelys' Brunch
• Brooklyn's Best Bites with Adam Richman presented by Edible Brooklyn 

Remember these aren't all the events that is just a taste of some of these events. And just to recap all of these dates, the American Express ticket pre-sale period is from Monday, June 6 at 9:00 am until Sunday, June 19 at 11:59 pm, the first day tickets go on sale to everyone is June 20, and the actual New York City Wine and Food Festival is from Thursday, September 29 -  Sunday, October 2. To get more information on the NYC Wine and Food Festival click here. Keep checking back for a lot more restaurant reviews and events in the one and only New York City. Bon Apetit!

-Mike

2011 Madison Square Park Eats Festival is Happening Now!

Welcome back foodies! In Madison Square Park there is a festival going on right now and running until June 3 with food from great eateries in New York City. The participants are:

• Asia Dog
• Bar Suzette
• Breezy Hill Orchard
• Calexico
• Carnelian Knoll
• Chameleon
• Cookie Panache
• Eataly
• Engage Green
• Goat Town
• Hong Kong Street Cart
• ilili
• Karma Living
• kudu-lah
• Marquet
• Momofuku Milk Bar
• Nunu Chocolates
• P&H Soda Co.
• Peter Charles
• Piccolo Café
• Resto
• Roberta’s Pizza
• Sigmund Pretzelshop
• Stuffed Artisan Cannolis
• Selen Design
• Spices and Tease
• The Filling Station
• Yumi Chen Designs

The festival is open from 11 a.m to 9 p.m every day. It sounds like a lot of fun and I hope to get to check it out soon. If I go I will definitely be writing a little bit about it. Hope you all get a chance to go enjoy all the great things this festival has to offer. Bon Apetit!


-Mike

De Gustibus Cooking Class With the Forgione Family: Awesome!

Hi foodies! I went to the Forgione cooking class at De Gustibus and it was a ton of fun. It was such an incredible experience and a fun class. Also the food that they made was outstanding.
 
This De Gustibus class was like no other. Instead of having one super talented chef cook before you, this class had three amazing chefs cooking. Iconic chef, Larry Forgione and two of his children, Marc Forgione, Iron Chef and chef/owner of Marc Forgione in New York City and Bryan Forgione, executive chef of Society Cafe at the Encore in Las Vegas. Larry's other two kids were there as well. His third son is not a professional chef but has just started in the food business and is a line cook at a restaurant on Long Island but he said he won't be there much longer. Larry's last kid and only daughter was just in the audience and is not in the food industry at all. Larry and all four of his kids were at the class as well as Larry's mother. We had almost the whole Forgione family at De Gustibus. It was an experience like no other.
Since there were three chefs actually cooking, they had this system that Marc would cook one dish and then Bryan would cook a dish. Larry sat at the end of the demonstration counter and only cooked one dish which was dessert. They all had their own wealth of knowledge and share of crazy stories. Stories of how each of them found their way into the food industry and crazy times like when Marc had a pan thrown at his head. 

Moving on to what they cook, the meal started with one Amuse Bouche prepared by Marc and the other Amuse Bouche prepared by Bryan. Marc made a caesar salad but this was no ordinary caesar salad. This caesar salad was very typical until Marc put his crazy spin on it by making this Parmesan sphere which is made with Xanthan Gum, Calcium Lactate Gluconate, Sodium Alginate and Parmesan cream. These egg shaped delicacies bursts right in your mouth and taste really good.

The second Amuse Bouche was prepared by Bryan. He made Buffalo Carpaccio which was really delicious.

Next was appetizers, one dish made by Marc and the other by Bryan. Marc made Baby White Asparagus in Ambush. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever tasted.

Bryan made Peanut BBQ Shrimp & Red Pepper Slaw. The shrimp was really good and the slaw was amazing.

For the main course Marc made Free Range Chicken Under a Brick made with Black Pig Meat Co. Bacon hash browns and bitter greens which was a really great dish.

For dessert, Larry came up to make Jim Beard's Strawberry Shortcake. The rest of the family came up and helped out. I thought the strawberry shortcake was great.

This class was so much fun and like no other. The food was impeccable and all the Forgione's were so friendly. I plan on going to Marc Forgione's  restaurant very soon.

Before I end this post I want to apologize because I really haven't been posting like usual. These past few months have been tough for me to post and when I was about done with this post I forgot to save it and lost most of it. I reassure you foodies that in the next few weeks I will be posting more often again with lots more restaurant reviews and food events in New York City and Long Island. Bon Apetit!


-Mike

The Most Spectacular Day Cooking With Zarela Martinez!

Hi foodies! Last week I had the most amazing food experience any fellow foodie could ever ask for! Mexican food god, Zarela Martinez, invited me into her home and we cooked all day. Here is what happened.

I walked in to her beautiful home which had a nice kitchen. Although I was a complete stranger to her, she immediately gave me a kiss and a hug hello and warmly welcomed me into her house. Before I get started with my story, I bet you are wondering how Zarela invited me over and how we came into contact with each other. What happened was I just emailed her and spoke to her about my love of food and she replied that she would love to cook with me sometime on a Sunday which is when she test recipes. We emailed a few times back and forth and I ended up in one of the best Mexican chefs kitchen (If you didn't know, just recently closed her restaurant, Zarela's). It is amazing how nice she was just to invite me into her home like that, which really goes to show you that anything can happen. Anyway, when I settled in, she went to get me a chefs jacket. She gave me one of her jackets from her former restaurant, Zarela's. I was so excited to start cooking. She gave me a bunch of tips and we cooked a ton of food.  Here is pretty much what we made.

1. Chorizo (Check out this recipe! http://www.zarela.com/2011/chorizo-norteno/ )
2. Pineapple Salad w/ olive oil, red wine vinegar, red onions, and cilantro
3. Pozole
4. Escabeche w/ cauliflower, turnips, carrots, jicama, jalapeno, white onion, and garlic
5. Zarela's famous rice w/ sauteed poblanos and white onions, sour cream, queso fresco, and cilantro (Check out this recipe! http://www.zarela.com/2010/creamy-rice-casserole )
6. Chicharones w/ tomatillos sauce
7. Chicharones w/ tomato, avocado, and onion
8. Brisket fried in vegetable oil 

Everything we made was incredible. While I was at Zarela's I picked up a lot of useful tips. Here are a few.

• Always cook with kosher salt
• Cook everything in stock to enrich flavor
• Put a wet  towel under a cutting board to prevent the board from moving
• Always measure cilantro dry because it retains a lot of water
• Always cut with a sharp knife

Zarela is the most amazing person. She is such a pleasure to be around and really lives life to the fullest. If you read her blog, which is incredible and really interesting, you might of seen her entry on guavas. She told me they are the little jewels of the city and that she thought you can only get these in Mexico. She said it brought her back to her childhood and she wanted me to have one. The guava she gave me was beautiful. It was sweet and had an interesting flavor. I am so grateful she gave me one.

She also let me keep the chefs jacket that I wore all day.This is an experience that I will never forget. I really hope she opens a restaurant in New York City again so you can all try her spectacular food but you can of course get recipes from her website and any three of her cookbooks which are Zarela's Veracruz, The Food And Life Of Oaxaca, and Food From My Heart. Also if you want to check out Zarela's blog check out this link, http://www.zarela.com/2011/seven-basic-rules-for-cooking-mexican-food. It was the most incredible day with Zarela and I am so glad to be able to share it with you all. To anyone out there who has a passion for something, for example if you are a foodie, your start could be an email away. Check back for a few restaurant reviews and food event updates in New York City and Long Island.   

-Mike