Falafel and French food

Given my carnivorean tastes and dislike for beans, I just had my first falafel sandwich today. I had heard good things about the balls of ground up chickpeas at a place close to work on Broadway (think it's called Broadway Cafe) so I went there. The guy behind the counter constructed the sandwich by first cutting an end off of a pita to open it. Then he threw in 3 falafel balls (they look like browned meat balls) and put it through the commercial toaster oven. When the sandwich came out, he drizzled some loose tan-colored sauce (tahini) over it, then piled on a chunky salad of cucumbers, green bell peppers, and tomatoes and he finished it off with more of the tahini on top. Somewhere along the line he added hommus too.

There was a lot of salad to get through at the top (I usually dislike raw vegetables), but the tahini and the crisp pita bread made it easy. Then I got to the falafel. With all the spices and density of the packed ground chickpeas, it was quite enjoyable. The tahini (though a bit bitter on its own) made everything a bit creamy, kinda like adding mayo to sandwiches. Towards the bottom of the sandwich, I think I got the full experience of what everything should taste like: each bite had some pita, falafel, salad, and tahini, where the salad cooled down the spices in the falafel, and the wet tahini held everything together yet juxtaposed the crispiness of the pita well. All in all, I'd have this again and IF I was forced to be a vegetarian, this would make it on my menu (next to the vegetarian duck). Speaking of which, I've not had meat all day!

But chew on this, my other food story! Last Wednesday, since we were let out early from work for Thanksgiving, I had a long leisurely lunch on the LES at Lucien. It is a charming little French bistro on 1st & 1st, complete with French waiters and a table of patrons taking a very loooooong lunch (actually it seemed like they were just on the aperitif part of the meal b/c I didn't see them have anything but wine). They also decorated the place "very French" -- the waitress explained that they like to decorate with eggs when we inquired about the odd (stationary) ferris wheel-like rack on the counter that held over a dozen eggs on display, like a bunch of egg cups combined. But I digress -- the food was worth writing home (or to the public at large) about.

I ordered a bouillabaise, my standby, since I just love seafood. If only I had brought my camera, since the presentation was so nice. Besides the usual shrimp, clams, mussels, and white fish (probably cod) arrayed around the plate, there was a half lobster in the middle of the dish. As the waiter brought it out, all we could see were the antenna and part of the head, little did we know there'd be a body attached! All the seafood was well-cooked (nothing overdone) and to dip their fresh, crusty bread in the soup was quite tasty. It was a bit of a bother to have to disassemble a lobster sitting in reddish liquid when you're wearing a white dress shirt, but they made it easier by cracking the claw in all the strategic places (but still keeping everything intact for presentation purposes) and also providing a lobster fork and a bowl to discard all the other shells. I think the bouillabaise could have used some more flavor from the sea (besides salt) -- it definitely wasn't very complex and full-bodied to me. But thank goodness for the dessert, the real piece de resistance (isn't it always?).

Before I get to the end of the meal, though, I'll add that my companion had the duck, which was also presented beautifully -- it had height and sat on a bed of wine infused beets and some spinach. I didn't taste it though, so I hardly remember anything else about it except that my companion really liked it too. And while we were enjoying our respective dishes and conversing, the owner/manager came over to us (he was sitting on the table with the loungers) and asked how we liked our meal. I thought he was just an over-friendly Frenchman, or perhaps jovial from the wine, but then he asked if he could buy us a glass of wine. We turned him down (being the polite Asians that we are) and proceeded to eat. Later on, someone else from the table approached us and asked if we'd like a drink -- he'd pour it right from their table. But we just couldn't but instead, tried to get dessert out of him, which he just laughed about. Oh well, we tried.

But good thing that didn't deter us from ordering dessert. We got the apple tarte tatin with cinnamon ice cream. I'm not one for cooked apples, so I wasn't expecting much. I'm also not a huge fan of cinnamon but the melting ice cream next to the hot apples infused just the right amount of spice, while adding a smooth creaminess from the ice cream, much like a good dollop of whipped cream would have provided. The apples were sliced very thinly so that it wasn't mushy at all; the layers of it added a bit of crunch and fresh apple-ness but were also cooked to just melt in the mouth after a few bites. The absolute best part of it all was the thin, caramelized sugar coating on top, with the same crunch and crackling of the sugar between your teeth as with a creme brulee top (also on their menu). Ooooh, was it good!

LUCIEN: B