`The Olives Table’ by the dashingly handsome celebrity chef Todd English and professional culinary writer, Sally Sampson is in every way a typical celebrity chef / restaurant cookbook. It has good, interesting recipes, some insights into what makes a good professional chef, and a slant which distinguishes it from most other celebrity chef / restaurant cookbooks.
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I am incredibly excited about the current food hall trend that is occurring in NYC. I was perfectly thrilled with Eataly, somewhat pleased with the Limelight Marketplace and now I am stoked about the Food Hall at the Plaza Hotel.
Yesterday I decided to hit up the Cooper Hewitt to check out the Van Cleef and Arpels exhibit. I figured I could choose something on the way and decided try out Todd English’s new venture. While this is no Eataly (which boasts an entire food shop), the Food Hall provides hungry and weary shoppers with anything from sushi, charcuterie, baked goods, pizza, a raw bar, wine; you can get pretty much anything there.
We were seated at The Wine Bar and ordered. You can get more obscure varietals such as Torrontes, Sauternes and Gruner. The selections are more than what you can normally get at a NY restaurant. For $9 I ordered the Tavel from Maison Bouachon 2008 and Antonio ordered the Oroya White NV from Spain (also $9). The rose was bright and crisp, there was definitely lots of fruit on the nose and a little citrus on the palate. The wine also had lots of minerality. Within seconds I was back on the beaches of Nice enjoying the sunshine and sparkling seas.
Since we had quite a selection of foods to order from, I let my wine do the selections. My crisp rose demanded seafood. I had indulged in the raw bar at Millesime earlier this week, so I decided to go with sushi. Specifically a yellowtail and jalapeno hand roll ($10) and a King Crab Maki Roll ($15). The fish was definitely fresh. The maki roll was spicier than I expected (a delight). The blackened tuna in the roll was a nice compliment to the crab. The cilantro freshened up the mouth while acting as a counter to the jalapeno in the roll. The roll was delicious and its flavor components were well thought out.
Antonio ordered the Mini Lamb Gyros ($14). When they arrived, we both noted the plating. Cute and playful. Eating them was a bit difficult and involved silverware. These messy little gyros were delightful. The lamb was accented by mint and cucumber. The tahini brought the dish to a different level. This dish was most definitely a Gyro, just a bit fancier. Once they figure out the messiness factor, this could be a perfect dish.
I look forward to trying more of the offerings at the Food Hall. The service was fine, the food delicious and the atmosphere was most certainly French.
The Food Hall by Todd English is located at the Plaza Hotel (entrance on Central Park South). You can also enter at 1 West 59th Street 10019 (212) 986-9260