Product review: Seven Spoons frozen dishes

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I was recently contacted to try some products from Seven Spoons, a brand that is newly selling frozen meals at Fairway. I was curious to try as they propose dishes from different parts of the world, gluten free and with natural ingredients. I am always wary about prepared food so I gave it a try!

I received three different dishes, sent on dry ice: Quinoa Vegetable Biryani, Chicken Biryani and Thai Green Curry.

We decided to try first the Quinoa Vegetable Biryani. When I opened the bag, this is what I saw:

It contained vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, lima beans, carrots), cashews, as well as cubes that are in fact the sauce.

I cooked the quinoa in the microwave (same modus operandi for the rice):

While the vegetables and sauce (cubes) were cooking in a skillet:

After following the cooking instructions, it became this:

or this:

With it came some spices for a raita, to counteract the heat of the dish:

Then, I tried the Chicken Biryani:

There were big pieces of delicious chicken that were served with Basmati rice prepared with caramelized onions, mint, Indian style chicken base (chicken broth, sea salt, Indian spices, chicken fat, garlic and onion powder, turmeric). 

The last dish was Thai Green Curry:

It was full of tofu, red pepper, green peas, bamboo shoots and baby corn, bathed in a curry sauce.

I liked these dishes for several reasons: easy to prepare, tasted natural and were flavorful, better than some of the prepared food I tried before. However, the Thai green curry and vegetarian biryani were a bit spicy; I wished they put some of the spices in a separate bag so people can decide how spicy they want the dish. The raita is definitely necessary if you do not like eating too spicy. I am now looking forward to see what other dishes they will propose, as they have several culinary experts working together.

 http://sevenspoonsfood.com

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Crumbs Gluten Free in Greenwich Village, NYC, New York

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After hearing my cousin's Jessica friend Andrew talk about how he started to eat gluten free only and the health benefits that ensue, we thought it would be a good idea to try some gluten free (GF) places. The first strike was Tu-Lu's bakery that I posted two days ago, this one being also out of curiosity considering that they opened next to Veniero's Pasticceria, one of the oldest if not the oldest Italian bakery in town, as if they wanted to challenge them. Then, Jodi remembered that we passed by Crumbs Gluten Free, a store that got converted to a full GF bakery last year. Their goodies are baked at a completely gluten and peanut-free bakery and delivered fresh daily to the store and on top of the regular cupcakes and cookies, they propose breads and quiches.

I would have gone blindfolded, I would not have known it was a GF Crumbs as the cupcakes and other brownies looked the same (meaning giant cupcakes!). 

We decided to try their milkshake cupcake:

Just reading the selection made me salivate:

Marble cake filled with vanilla cream cheese frosting mixed with chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting swirled with chocolate cream cheese frosting and edged with chocolate crunches. 

It was good, but a bit on the dry side.

We also tried the chocolate hazelnut tart:

It was delicious! The chocolate taste was fantastic with a nice hint of hazelnut and the crust was crumbly. Definitely recommended for the chocolate lovers.

Crumbs Gluten Free was surprising: not only everything looked appetizing, but it tasted good too. I would not have known it was GF, I would have never guessed!

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Tu-Lu's gluten free bakery in the East Village - NYC, New York

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Tu-Lu's is the first Gluten free bakery I set foot in, finding it unexpectedly next to Veniero's, one of the oldest pastry shops in America. Yes, next to Veniero's, as if it was done as a sign of defiance! Gluten free, vegan...To the regular foodie, it does not sound good and probably does not taste good. But I heard so many people with gluten-intolerance, Celiac disease or just willing to cut on gluten saying that there are great places throughout the city where eating gluten free is not synonymous with eating cardboard. That is how we decided to go back to Tu-Lu's. 

This place opened in 2010 by Tully Phillips, after she was diagnosed with gluten intolerance, joined by Jennifer Goodhue in 2011, who was diagnosed in 2009 with Celiac disease. Since then they opened locations in Dallas Texas, catering to the gluten free (GF) and vegan fans. 

It is a tiny place with only few seats inside. They offer desserts and cookies such as cupcakes, brownies, donuts..., where the wheat flour has been replaced with rice or tapioca flour.

For the cupcakes, they propose regular and small size, so we decided to try few of their specialties.

First was the cinnamon sugar donut:

It was a pretty good donut, even if not the best I ever tried, with a consistency cake like rather than yeast like if I were to compare with the two kinds the Doughnut Plant proposes. I would not have known it was GF, I would not have noticed. 

A vanilla cupcake:

I liked it: the cake itself was moist and the frosting light, well proportioned with the amount of cake.

The red velvet cupcake:

I did not like it, whether it was the cake or the frosting. 

A chocolate and hazelnut cake bite:

I liked it: it was very chocolaty, moist, but did not really taste the hazelnut. Despite that, I would re-order it!

Last was the vegan chocolate chip cookie:

They propose it vegan or simply GF. In a bold move, we decided to go for vegan. I liked it: it is not at the same level than City Bakery, but let me tell you that it is a pretty decent one!

As you can imagine, I was quite surprised by what we got at Tu-Lu's: it definitely changed my mind about GF desserts and I am really amused that such bakery is right next to one of the most popular bakeries in New York. Tu-Lu's is the living proof that eating GF does not mean that you cannot satisfy these cravings that we all have! This is a good address whether you or your friends are vegan, need or want to eat GF...or not!

Enjoy (I did)!

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Restaurant Information

tabelog.us

	* Restaurant Name
	Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery
	* Overall
	☆☆☆☆☆
	* Neighborhood / Cuisine
	East Village / American New
	* Street Address
	338 East 11th St., New York, NY 10003
	* Phone
	(212) 777-2227

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Veniero's Pasticceria in the East Village, NYC, New York

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Veniero's is the oldest Italian pastry shop in the US, opened and owned since 1894 by the Veniero family. During its long life, this East Village place has earned multiple awards and is said to be the best place for dessert in New York. This put the bar pretty high considering the multiple options the City has to offer. So I was very excited to try it and we decided to go after our lunch at S'Mac and right before seeing the movie Dallas Buyers Club with Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto (great performance from both by the way). When we arrived, we noticed the café adjacent to the pastry shop and decided to come back after the movie, to have some time to taste several pastries. So, chose promise, chose due (promises are made to be kept): more than two hours later, we reenter the place that is packed! I was so glad that I took few photos earlier. 

When you enter the place, you arrive in the pastry shop where I could probably spend an afternoon looking at these fantastic desserts in regular and small size, drooling on the ornate marble floor. I thought it was great to propose the smaller size, so one can try several kinds of Italian desserts, but I can ensure you that I would have had a hard time making up my mind! 

It can be so crowded that you need to pick a number to be served before going back in line.

Passing the crowd, there is another display, for large cakes (you can admire the staff decorating cakes if you like):

And then, here is the café, in the back, with its incredible stained glass ceiling and an authentic atmosphere that transports you back in time in Italy.

Their menu was pretty large and the only regret I had was not to see some of these small pastries or a sampler. But this could not stop us from trying a few desserts.

Jodi decided to order a coconut cake:

Not a surprising choice as it is her favorite dessert. This one was just ok and she did not even finish it. The disappointing factor was the fact that the cream on top did not incorporate any coconut: it was just drizzled on top of the cake. So far, her favorite, and I would agree, is the coconut cake from Balthazar that you can even find at its sister restaurant, Minetta Tavern.

On my side, I chose the Baba au rhum:

They propose it with or without custard. I decided to go with. It was another disappointment: the cake seemed to be a bit stale, although imbibed with the rum and there was an off taste. I could not even eat half of it.

After these two miss, we had high hopes on the cannoli:

It looked good and appetizing. The shell was very good, fresh and crispy, however, the filling was a bit bland. 

I guess the only thing I loved there was my double espresso...

I was very disappointed by Veniero's and it is after trying three of their desserts, two of them quite traditional. Maybe the Italian cookies are better, but clearly not what we picked. If I had to compare it to another Italian pastry and propose it as an alternative, it would be Villabate Alba in Brooklyn. 

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Restaurant Information

tabelog.us

	* Restaurant Name
	Veniero's Pasticceria and Caffe
	* Overall
	★★☆☆☆
	* Neighborhood / Cuisine
	East Village / Italian / Desserts
	* Street Address
	342 East 11th St. (bet. 1st & 2nd Ave.), New York, NY 10003
	* Phone
	(212) 674-7070

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Brunch at City Bistro in Hoboken, NJ

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If you come to Hoboken, there is one thing that you cannot miss: the number of bars in the mile square city. City Bistro, located uptown, is one the popular ones that has a big advantage over the others: its rooftop. Not that it is very useful in the winter, but in the summer, it is definitely the place to be and they sometimes even ask bands to come perform there. 

It was not our first time there, being there for drinks, but also a dinner few years ago, that I hated, not because of the food, but because of the noise level that very loud, not allowing me to understand a word of the conversation. So, this time, we decided to go for brunch, thinking that it was probably quieter. I am sure that there would be a game, it would have been a madhouse though...

It is a bar, so the decor is pretty standard: wooden floor, bricks, high and low tables. The first time we went, I noticed all the strollers at the entrance and a large number of families inside.

I had hopes for the brunch, because a lot of time, bars are proposing great comforting dishes. Their menu offers the classic choices you get for brunch, as well as their own dishes. The first time, Jodi went for the salade Niçoise, a French specialty made of tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and tuna.

The tuna, in the original recipe, is canned. At City Bistro, they made the salad using fresh seared tuna that made the dish more elegant. The tuna had this nice grill taste on the outside and the flavor was enhanced with some coarse salt. What I liked also is that they added their own twist by putting on the very top some fried onions.

I ordered the short rib grilled cheese:

For the side, I had the choice between fries and a salad. I went with fries of course!

The grilled cheese sandwich was made of short ribs, gruyere, baby arugula, caramelized onion on a country white bread. I liked it although the short ribs were a bit dry. Fortunately there was the cheese (a bit more would have even be better and would have balanced the sandwich) and the caramelized onions that gave a nice sweetness to the dish. 

The second time we went, Jodi ordered the crunchy French toast:

What made this French toast different from any other is that it was battered in corn flakes, giving it a nice crunch. The bread was also properly soaked in the batter. If you like French toast, this is definitely one I would not miss.

On my side, I wanted to try the burger. I hesitated between the Bistro burger (10oz. ground sirloin, lettuce, tomato, vidalia onion, choice of cheddar, swiss, bleu cheese) and the Hoboken burger (ground beef, fried egg, seared ham). I decided to go for the Hoboken burger, with cheese (they charged me for it).

The meat had a nice char and was juicy (I asked for medium).

I liked the egg on top, the yolk being runny and making the use of ketchup or mayo useless. With the ham, this was definitely a heart attack on a plate!

I really enjoyed the brunch at City Bistro: the menu is classic, but they were able to put some interesting dishes on it that will satisfy all palates.

Enjoy (I did)!

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