TK

I have returned to this url, just because it's the one I like best. Soon, janelerner.com will get developed (thanks Anthony, for the url!), but in the meantime, let's stay here for a while. It's nice.

Full reviews, comments, information tk, but for now, a little something:

- Cafe Cluny - Great duck confit served with sweet, teeny tiny brussel sprouts. I also had the exact same frisee salad as I'd had at Odeon a week before (duh, I guess. but eh. it's a classic but boring), cute waitresses looking vaguely french and very sexy, the whole place was buzzing and fab, but not pretentious.

- Mermaid Inn - Always reliable, though my undercooked mussels were disgusting.

- BLT Prime - Enough food to have fed five and there were just two of us, thick, golden onion rings stacked like a child's ring toy, and I finally understood the overrated concept of kobe/wagyu beef.

- Stinky's - I heard that Tullers closed, so I am thrilled that a new gourmet cheese place opened up. They are very nice there and they carry Applewood restaurant's line of goodies. The lavender shortbread is ridiculous, and so right up my alley.

- St. Helen Cafe - Best damn coffee I have had in ages and a sticky honeyed croissant that was delicious. wow. Thanks Bayard, for taking us there.

- Max Brenner - I refuse to call this place by its full name because the marketing factor at this place is nauseating. The banana split latte shake frappe whatever the hell they called it was absolutely great; the hot chocolates we tried were woefully disappointing. Amateur staff and a decor closely resembling the Cheescake Factory turned me off, but still, we ate dessert for dinner and had a really great time.

- Finally learning how to master my own sage brown butter sauce. It's not hard, I know, but I seem to be on a roll where it's so good that I want to drink it by the spoonful, forget the pasta or fish. I also cooked a piece of black cod last night that had such a soft and rich flesh that it felt strangely obscene as I flaked away the layers with my fork. Stupid expensive, though, from Wild Edibles in Grand Central - not the most inexpensive shopping outlet, by any means - I think I paid over twenty bucks for this one piece of fich. That would be a nice piece of fish, as my family would say...