Allswell Review

On Friday night we visited Allswell on a very busy stretch of Bedford Avenue. We haven't been out in Williamsburg at night (daytime coffee trips happen) in a long time. Honestly, maybe it's been ten years. So our first observation was the level of foot traffic, cabs, and yelling. It reminds me of 2nd avenue in the East Village. Second observation is that Allswell is not a comfortable restaurant. The benches and stools are low and short. You are not really going to want to sit here very long. In summary, we old!

Overall Localvore rating - Meh, fine. Worth going to if you live nearby.

Our menu covered all the basics - some fish, some beef, a flatbread. It's not challenging or particularly interesting. Aside from the herring and mussels, there's nothing on the menu I couldn't procure at the Food Coop on any given day.

We had the mussels, scallops, and short ribs. Far and away the mussels in green curry were the tastiest of the three. The kitchen does something pretty difficult. It made a curry that is both very flavorful and not insanely spicy. We loved it. Strangely, they serve this with a little piece of baguette. We asked for additional bread. That took some time to return with and by that time the curry was cold.

The scallops and short ribs were fine. They were tasty enough; fresh scallops, creamy polenta, etc.

Actually we enjoyed the cocktails more than the food. Allswell makes their own orgeat and featured it in a cocktail. I don't recall the names, but if we were nearby again, we would stop by for a drink.

Allswell is similar to The Vanderbilt, but not quite as professional or interesting.

12 Restaurants for 2013

Happy New Year. 

It's been a long, slow blogging process. So if anyone reads this, I apologize for the delay. 2013 will be more fertile with posts about drinks out, drinks made, dinners out, and a recipe here or there. The photography will not be great. This blog will not compare to smitten kitchen or lady gouda.

So this year's first post will be the 12 new restaurants we'll visit this year. We made it to 9 of the 12 in 2011.

The final daiquiri is made with these ingredients:

• Chairman's Reserve Rum
• Pierre Ferand Dry Curacao
• Simple syrup from candied kumquats
• Squeeze from Meyer lemon

Ice Cream #3

Continuing with recipes Jeni's, I made the rhubarb frozen yogurt. This process requires draining an entire yogurt quart overnight (in the fridge) to remove the water (It is a tremendous amount of water that drains from low-fat yogurt.).

The recipe basically has you make a frozen yogurt base and a rhubarb compote. And you combine the two together before churning. The rhubarb wasn't great as a compote. We won't be making this again.

Ice Cream #2

Last year, we met Jeni Britton Bauer at The Brooklyn Kitchen. Besides tasting her ice cream again (I've been to Columbus a few times and had it there), she spent a lot of time chatting with the kids. Anyhow, I have a fondness for her from that experience.

So ice cream #2 is her roasted strawberry with buttermilk ice cream. It's my first time making this recipe so I followed it very closely. Next time, I'll roast more strawberries. The flavor isn't intense enough for me. As with all her ice creams, they have a delightful taffy quality, but a slightly chalky aftertaste (from the cornstarch).