Comestiblog

Foodbuzz Spices it up

One week ago, on 13 October, Foodbuzz, Inc. officially inaugurated its food blogger community.  Amid all the buzz, featured publishers from New York and New Jersey were invited to attend a dinner in their honor at Spice Market this past Saturday.  What a perfect opportunity to indulge in two of my favorite pleasures: talking about food and, better yet, consuming it.

Jean-Georges Vongerichten's interpretation of Asian street foods brings together the flavors Vietnam, Thailand, and China.  Dishes are served family-style to allow sharing.  Everything I tasted ranged from very good to excellent.  The red curried duck was a standout.

Pictured below are the menu and all the dishes thereon presented in order:

Shrimp Tod Mon Pla: slightly too salty

Chili-Rubbed Beef Skewers: succulent, delicious; fine dipping sauce

Pork Satay with Pickled Vegetables: highly delectable; overly subtle pickled vegetables

Spiced Chicken Samosas: perfectly prepared, flaky, delicious

Mango Salad, Cherry Tomatoes, and Crystallized Tamarind:
refreshing; a good complement to the other dishes

Cod with Malaysian Chili Sauce, Thai Basil: tangy, well-prepared

Red Curried Duck: seductively hot; the best dish of the evening

Char-Grilled Chicken, Kumquat Lemongrass Dressing: dominant
lemongrass influences

Chili-Garlic Egg Noodles, Seared Shrimp, and Star Anise:
unmistakable aromas of star anise

Snap Peas with Shiitake Mushrooms and Waterchestnuts:
fresh flavors and perfect consistency

Ovaltine Kulfi, Caramelized Banana and Spiced Milk Chocolate Sauce: rich, creamy, not too sweet, sinful

Assorted Cookies: a delightful ending

Special thanks to Foodbuzz's Ryan Stern and Devon O'Donnell, who flew in from San Francisco, and to Stacey Caron (Stacey Snacks) for organizing this spicy soirée.  Greetings also to my fellow foodbuzzers who made the evening so enjoyable.

Ryan, Stacey, and Devon

Spice Market

403 West 13^th Street (NW corner Ninth Av), Meatpacking District, Manhattan

(212) 675-2322

http://www.spicemarketnewyork.com/

By train: A,C,E (IND) to 14^th St; L (BMT) to 8^th Av
By bus: M11, M14A, M14D

Keeping Apace with the Tempo of Park Slope

Gastronomically speaking, there wasn't much to recommend this part of Park Slope less than a decade ago.  Pioneers like Cucina, Al di Là, and the erstwhile Vaux changed all that, however, and paved the way for what has become a restaurant row on Fifth Avenue.  After a 16-year run, Cucina's closing in 2004 left many regulars bereft.  Its reincarnation as Tempo that same year assuaged the grief, however.

Chef Michael Fiore made the transition from Cucina and infused his Italian-inspired dishes with other flavors from the Mediterranean, including those of France, Spain, and Morocco.  Add to that his unmistakably American accent, and voilà—Tempo!

The three-course, prix fixe menu ($32, Sunday through Thursday; $42, Friday and Saturday) offers a wide range of dishes to savor.  For my first course, I chose one of Tempo's signature dishes: Duck Pastilla Rolls (duck and almonds, sweetened with a Moroccan barbeque glaze, in a crisp feuille du bric wrapper).  The sweetness of the glaze was reminiscent of a Hoisin sauce and gave the dish a vaguely Asian flavor.  It was rather tasty, though I tend to prefer duck preparations to be more savory.

The bread and bean dip added a nice touch.

My main course was an Atlantic salmon atop a chickpea falafel on a bed of charred eggplant purée with sesame tahini.  The covering of radish and watercress salad added the necessary greenery.  The fish was tender and moist and seemed to blend well with its plate partners.  Since I dine on salmon often, this unusual preparation was a welcome change.

I should point out that Tempo offers a good selection of wines.  However, the cocktails are so refreshing that I drank them instead of wine with my meal.  The passion fruit Bellini made a delicious apéritif and was a nice variation of the popular drink made with white peach nectar.  The Pomegranate Margarita (made with PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur) proved to be a nice twist on the classic lime version.  With tasty libations like that, I didn’t really miss my wine that evening.

Selecting a dessert is, perhaps, the most difficult part of the meal.  Each one seems as tempting as the next.  Who can resist the New Orleans-style beignets with Café du Monde gelato or the passion fruit crème brûlée?  There are also artisanal cheeses available for an additional charge.  I finally decided upon the warm molten chocolate cake with caramel pecan crunch gelato.  Yum!

Tempo brings a sort of informal stylishness that was once a scarcity in this part of Brooklyn.  The décor of the dining room and wine bar is chic, yet casual.  In addition, the waitstaff is courteous, relaxed, and knowledgeable.  Above all, however, one is made to feel comfortable.  Keep up the Tempo!

  

Tempo

256 Fifth Avenue (bet. Carroll St & Garfield Pl), Park Slope, Brooklyn

(718) 636-2020

http://www.tempobrooklyn.com/

By train: M,R to Union Street
By bus: B63