We had a fun fun birthday weekend. On Saturday, we had breakfast at Ben's Chili Bowl in the old 'hood, and then did some shopping downtown. Then Mimi and Grandpa watched the kids while Ali and I scooted back downtown to catch the Hopper exhibit, a pit stop at Brasserie Beck and then dinner at Central (when you don't get out much, you have to cram a lot in). All three got thumbs up from both of us. Brasserie Beck is a really cool space with a great looking menu and about 150 Belgian beers to choose from. Dinner at Central was really great. Ali got the lobster "burger" - a patty of big chunks of lobster held together with scallop mousse, on a homemade brioche bun with a thin round of crisp potato to give it some crunch. I ordered the Pied de Cochon, aka trotters, aka pig's feet. They take the meat out, saute it with aromatics and mushrooms, then cure it like a sausage. Then to prepare it, they take it out of the casing, put a light batter on it, and deep fry it. It was served on top of some amazingly creamy mashed potatoes and a mustard sauce. I think we were both more impressed with this dish than the lobster burger. Pig's feet - who knew?
Sunday, we hiked around Teddy Roosevelt island (see pics here) and then had lunch at Eammon's, the Dublin Chipper, to satisfy Ali's request to do something Irish on her birthday. We had a delicious dinner at my folks last night and then this morning I went in to get my cholesterol checked. I'm not kidding. Breakfast at Ben's was probably enough to tip the scales, nevermind the fried cod and french fries at Eammon's. Oh well.
