EN Japanese Brasserie

The sign, the low lighting, the friendly, soft-spoken Japanese waitstaff, and the menu - was I back at Cha Cha Hana in Tokyo? No, I was in New York, at EN Japanese Brasserie, thanks to a spot on recommendation from our friend Hana, but boy did it bring back wonderful memories of modern izakaya at its best in Tokyo.

We ordered their special homemade tofu (we chose to warm, rather than cold) with a special sauce (tasted like soy and dashi), cold chawanmushi topped with uni (seasonal dish), miso black cod, hot stone grilled organic chicken, shima aji and kanpachi sashimi, braised pork belly, and finished with their popular ice cream trio.

The tofu was quite possibly the best tofu either Mark or I had ever eaten. It was super soft and smooth, with a perfectly light tofu flavor complemented by a light, but flavorful sauce. There was a lot of it, we ate it all, and it went down so, so easy. A very auspicious start to the meal.

This untraditional chawanmushi was (again) perfectly light. Having just come in from the cold, I would have preferred a steaming hot chawanmushi, but completely understand why it had to be cold (nobody wants warm uni). The steamed egg and uni was a surprisingly complementary combo, and the uni was nice and fresh. Great dish if you like uni - even better if it's warm outside.

The miso black cod was a delicious standard, as was the kakuni (braised pork belly), particularly with some steamed rice, leaving us just enough space for a light dessert.

You get to choose three flavors for three scoops, out of six or so different options. Since the black sesame ice cream was mentioned numerous times on Yelp, and we both love black sesame, we went with two scoops of black sesame and one scoop of fig, which just sounded really good. The black sesame was good, but the fig was even better.

We washed all of this down with tea. I think it was oolong. It was very good, whatever it was.

Cafe Boulud

Maybe because it was Saturday night, or maybe business casual just doesn't mean the same in NYC than it does in SF, maybe Daniel Boulud's name just commands this kind of crowd, or all of the above. Whatever the reason, Cafe Boulud was full of well-dressed, important-looking (read sophisticated, older, but very "upkept") people, making me wish, at first, I had worn one of my dresses. It made sense, since the dining room really was beautifully decorated, but no worries, we ended up seated in the back row of the restaurant with the rest of the not-so-famous, not-so-beautiful people - not to be seen, but to see (we had a great view of the rest of the restaurant).

And see we did! In fact, we saw Daniel's fellow Frenchman Eric Ripert!

Did you spot him in the grey blazer over Mark's right shoulder? And who is that he got up to talk to? At that table is a man both Mark and I recognized, but could not place. Mark thought he was a chef that guest judged on Top Chef a few seasons back, but I thought he was an actor that I've seen play an attorney or politician on television before. Mark was right.

The food was as good as everyone said it would be. We could see why Chef Boulud himself is known to eat there more often than his original restaurant Daniel, and others like Chef Ripert does, too.

They started us off with these hot, black truffle and fontina cheese-filled balls.

Mark had the seared foie gras, which was perfection, with sweet pear to balance the fatty liver. I remember having foie gras this good before only once or twice before, and I think it was in Paris. These French chefs really know their foie gras.

I had a beautiful house-made papardelle with a really nice mozzarella, pine nuts and basil pesto. We all know how good papardelle is, and this was probably the best I've ever had. With starters like these, it baffled me why anyone would start with a salad. I suppose some people really like their salads, and I'm sure they're very good salads, but come oooooonnnnnnn!

Mark had the beef duo as his main course, which included a braised short rib and seared coulotte (top sirloin), and was perfection. It was served with a cauliflower gratin and swiss chard to offset the richness of the beef. I had a butter poached Dover sole stuffed with an herb mousse with sunchoke puree, citrus braised endive and sauce Americaine. No clue what's in a sauce Americaine, but it was delicious.

For dessert, I chose a hazelnut gateaux with gianduja chocolate mousse, caramel fondant and hojicha tea ice cream. Mark chose the deconstructed apple tart tatin with a pecan bourbon ice cream that was to-die-for. The tart tatin tasted looked nothing like its namesake, but it tasted like the perfect French memory, each element individually delicious, and mind-blowing when combined.

The only chink in the armor showed up at the end of the meal when they failed to give us the mini-madeleines everyone was was served post-dessert. I had no room for it, but it was a mistake, and I didn't expect any mistakes from them. Maybe next time I'll get my hair professionally done, wear some makeup and more impressive jewelry.

Gray's Papaya

We started off the morning with a couple of Gray's Papaya hot dogs topped with spicy onions, and were sorely disappointed. The bun wasn't all steamy like we had remembered it, the hot dog was overcooked and everything was cold. We're not sure if we just remembered wrong, or if it really has gone downhill, or if maybe the hot dogs from the SF stand on Market across the street from Old Navy (our favorite!) is just that good.

I wasn't ready to give up on Gray's, though. I was intrigued by the breakfast special (egg and cheese sandwich with sausage or ham - I went with sausage), which came with a tiny, but perfect little cup of coffee, and what a redemption. If I need a quick early morning breakfast, I'm definitely going back for another special!

Momofuku Ko

I did it. I survived the three-hour marathon meal at Momofuku Ko. They served a challenging sixteen courses, culminating at about course number thirteen in a Long Island duck sausage-stuffed duck breast served with a small cylinder of rice, grilled green onion, and a sprinking of pomegranate seeds. They scored the fact in a beautiful pattern at the beginning of the meal, and basted it with hot peanut oil directly in front of us throughout the meal. It made me forget that I was already stuffed.

Before that, we had their famous melt-in-your mouth shaved foie gras over lychee, riesling jelly and brittle. And before that, a puffed egg in bacon dashi broth served with a light, fluffy, to-die-for bacon and cream cheese-stuffed "bagel." Other highlights included a refreshing oyster topped with caviar, chives and lime, and a rich rye bread soup with eel and confit of cherry tomatoes.

I was pretty much in a coma by the end of the meal, but conscious enough to appreciate a few aspects of the desserts, including a sweet cream ice cream that perfectly balanced a carrot puree, and an earl gray chocolate sauce poured over an earl grey tea cake and some other sort of ice cream.

The creativity level and execution here rivals that of a Thomas Keller kitchen, except with a much more Asian bent in both ambience and cuisine, particularly Japanese. Somewhere around the third or fourth course, I had an "aha!" moment, as in, "aha, I now understand all the hype."

Although everything was beautiful, they have a no picture policy, so all I have is this picture of their front door, which seems deliberately low profile, even hidden or unwelcoming. Our meal, however, was warm and undeniably delicious. Indeed, we were welcomed and seated right away despite being nearly a half hour late (the D train was much slower than we anticipated).

Next stop: NYC

I am about to embark on an unprecedented foodie tour of New York City. Okay, so maybe others have gone before me, but my itinerary is ambitious, to say the least. It may not be possible to eat through all I have planned, but we will give it our all.

This is a trip two months in the making, ever since I spotted those super low Jetblue airfares. Hotels have long been booked, restaurant reservations have been made and modified, some a month in advance (had to make sure to get Daniel reserved for our anniversary), some exactly twenty-eight days in advance (hello Gramercy Tavern), and others exactly two weeks in advance (thanks Momofuku Ko). I've stayed up late adjusting my itinerary, called the offices of the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show weekly for tickets only to find out they are not taping while we're there (neither is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart!), and even woken up at 6:45am my time to log-on to the Momofuku Ko reservations site, to which I had previously registered in advance (a necessity), exactly fourteen days prior to my desired reservation date (your food better be worth it, David Chang). And now the time is finally here for us to pack our bags, go, and eat like we've never eaten before.

I must forewarn you: I have made a similarly ambitious itinerary before, for Tokyo, and failed to stick to it. There were, however, mitigating circumstances then, including jetlag (sleeping and waking early is not conducive to eating a lot in Tokyo, where food halls and restaurants don't open until noon-ish, but stay open until the wee hours of the morning) and a foreign (literally) street address system that got the best of us at times. None of those mitigating circumstances will be present for this NY trip, so I have high hopes.

We'll be starting on Saturday morning with some upper West side snacks (maybe a Gray's Papaya hot dog) to warm up, and then we dive right into a three-hour food extravaganza at Momofuku Ko (where unfortunately pictures are not allowed - just wanted to set your expectations). We round out the first day with a late dinner at Cafe Boulud, which was recently renovated, and is the other Daniel Boulud restaurant I settled on after reading numerous reviews and comparisons of various Boulud NYC restaurants on nymag.com, nytimes.com and Chowhound (I'm relatively thorough, but not very creative, in my research).

Here's a list of what we're planning (hoping) to hit the rest of the week:

• H&H Bagel
• Momofuku Ssam Bar
• Momofuku Milk Bar
• EN Japanese Brasserie (reserved)
• Street carts at 53rd & 6th, 73rd & Broadway, and Dosa Man near NYU
• Corner Bistro
• Blue Ribbon Bakery
• Ray's Candy Store (egg creams and ... belgian fries?)
• Ippudo
• ChikaLicious
• Levain Bakery
• Treats Truck
• Le Bernardin (reserved)
• La Maison du Chocolat
• Bon Chon
• Balthazar (if only for some fries)
• Jean George (reserved)
• Gramercy Tavern (reserved)
• Shake Shack
• Original Soup Man (he doesn't run his store anymore, but he still supplies the soup for this franchise)
• Grimaldi's Pizzeria (Brooklyn)
• Cha-an Tea House
• Tebaya
• hidden Burger Joint
• Spotted Pig
• Katz's Delicatessen

Lower priority backups (i.e., if we can possibly squeeze in any more meals between meals) include:

• Alice's Tea Cup
• Nougatine by Jean George
• Diner or Marlow & Sons (Brooklyn)
• The Breslin (Spotted Pig's new sister)
• Perilla (maybe we'll spot Harold, Season 1 Top Chef winner!)
• Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop & Gem Spa (egg creams survey)
• Pomme Frites

If you'd like to join us vicariously on this crazy, whirlwind food journey, stay tuned for updates throughout the week!