Blue Ribbon

A few weeks ago one of my managers invited me to Blue Ribbon in SoHo for an after work meal. My best friend from high school, Casey, was visiting so I skipped out on the trip downtown and didn't think much of it. Then a few days later, while I was reading Heat, Blue Ribbon showed up again. This time I got a glimpse of what this restaurant has to offer. Bill Buford describes this small, easy-to-miss restaurant with a 8+ person round table in the front that, when Babbo first opened, Mario Batali would frequent with line cooks, friends and others in the business. They would order 7 bottles of wine and the nontraditional food wouldn't stop until the early hours of the morning.

So last night, after a not-so-great shift at work, I decided to check it out. I asked a co-worker if he would like to join me and at 11:15 we caught a cab and headed to Sullivan Street in SoHo. The decor was not what I was expecting. In fact, I had pictured it more as a diner then a nice, semi-upscale restaurant with servers wearing starched white shirts and ties.

We got a table in a corner and started discussing the culinary possibilities of the night. Almost immediately we decided to order an abundance of starters and a bottle of wine. On our menu for the night: A dozen oysters, escargot, cheese fondue, steak tartare and, the house specialty, beef marrow with oxtail marmalade. With our food order we also picked out a bottle of Nigl Gruner Veltliner - an Austrian white.

The wine was very light with just a little fruit on the front of the palate but the finish was almost too light and had a little too much minerality. Sipping it before the first course arrived was pleasant but the wine took on a totally different profile when eating the oysters. We had six Malpeque oysters from Prince Edward Island and six Effingham oysters from British Columbia. They had three sauces - a classic red wine vinegar minuette, a jalapeno-onion-tomato salsa of sorts and a classic cocktail sauce. I almost always use minuette on my oysters and the pairing of that acidity with the minerality of the finish on the wine was mind-blowing. After having that bottle of wine with the oysters, I completely understand the magic of pairing food and wines. The oysters themselves were great. I love the briny/meatiness of east coast oysters but had never had a west coast oyster that I enjoyed. The Effinghams changed that. They were creamy and a little sweet - very typical of a west coast oyster - but also had an unexpected brininess to them.

We also had the escargot with our first course. Wow. The preparation stepped away from tradition with candied apples, carrots, mushrooms and bacon. Like I said, wow. All the ingredients were individually amazing but the dish was finished off with a port/brandy reduction that surrounding and stuck to every morsel of food in that bowl. It was served with crostini and we had to hold ourselves back from licking the bowl - I guess that's why we got a loaf of bread... it was gone by the time we wiped that bowl clean.

The next course was cheese fondue. Again, wow. Fondue brings back childhood memories of my family's time in Holland. Our next door neighbors in our little farm village, Eemnes, were Swiss and they taught my mom the secret to perfect cheese fondue. Since moving back to the states 10 years ago, fondue has become our family's Christmas Eve tradition. Every year we sit on the floor around our living room coffee table and enjoy cheese fondue with cubes of French baguette and a fruit salad. When the fondue hit the table last night, all these memories came flooding back. It was made with Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese, just like the way our neighbors taught my mom, and was surrounded with cubes of baguette, bread sticks and apple slices. The only step away from tradition? A side plate with a baked potato covered in bacon. I was starting to notice what makes Blue Ribbon amazing; everything is traditional but there is one element that pushes the food from great to exceptional. Needless to say, we devoured the fondue.

As we ordered our second bottle of wine, a 2008 Chablis Ier Cru with slightly more body and fruit than the Veltliner, we realized that we ordered the five richest dishes on the menu and we were already beyond the point of being comfortably full. We had to wait a little while for the last course - we stopped noticing time but we were about half way through the bottle by the time the marrow and steak tartare hit the table. I could barely eat the last course but I was determined to try to beef marrow and oxtail marmalade. My co-worker kept teasing me that I didn't like it - he said he could tell by my face- but I surprised myself. The fattiness of the marrow mixed with the sweetness of the marmalade and the crunchiness of the bread was to die for. The flavors were intense and the texture of the marrow was something I had to overcome but it was undeniably delicious. After trying the marrow/marmalade mixture, I had to force myself to try the tartare. This was also a new experience. The tartare was served with mustard, cocktail pickles, capers, chives, pepper and a side of homemade, waffle potato chips. On my first bite, my immediate thought was, "More salt!" However, at the very end, the perfect saltiness appeared from the chips. Once again, everything was devoured and another bottle of wine was gone.

The entire experience, which lasted until 2am, was amazing. I love being in a city where food is not a necessity but an obsession. The fact that food of this caliber is available until the wee hours of the morning makes me want to find more restaurants like Blue Ribbon - although I am not sure if the quality will be met. Definitely a restaurant worth checking out.
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Currently Eating/Cooking: Pan sauteed Yukon gold potatoes and zucchini from Lana and Charlie (farmers from upstate that provide our restaurant with almost all the produce we use) and Trader Joes organic chicken tenders.

Currently Craving: Homemade Butternut Squash Soup. I found a great recipe last winter and made it on a snowy day in Richmond. It was so easy, delicious and nice to have on a cold day. I'm off today and it's a rainy day in New York so a trip to Trader Joes might be in order later in the day

Currently Reading: Heat by Bill Buford

Currently Obsessing Over: Immersion blender. This is something I have wanted for a while but have yet to purchase. It is a great item to have when making something like butternut squash soup. Perhaps a trip to cooking store is in order this afternoon as well...