2.35, originally uploaded by 4L4N M4K.

This is not old New York.

Shot while wandering around different sections of Brooklyn one weekend afternoon. This was close to my final stop before heading home. I have always loved the view from this park.

I went to Landmarc twice this week for dinner - the first time (Wednesday) at the downtown location and the second (Friday) at the Time Warner Center.

I was very much looking forward to going since Liz was there a bit ago and said it was really great and I also cheated by peeking at the menu online so I pretty much knew the menu and was intrigued by a number of dishes.

Landmarc - West Broadway
We got there, and as usual, I was late. However, this time it TOTALLY wasn't my fault...really, it wasn't. Regardless, I still bet Sarah a cocktail that I wouldn't be late, and I lost. Earlier that evening, I was SO sure I was going to win this time.

Once we got there, Sarah was waiting at the bar, I paid for her drink, and we were promptly seated.

I took a quick peek at my menu to reconfirm my choice for my main and to decide from a few planned choices for my starter. I decided on the French Onion Soup to start and the Smoked Duck for my main. Liz had some salad thing - no interest on my part, so I don't really know what salad she had - it was colorful though, so that was nice. Sarah, after some prodding from me got the Sirloin - She wanted the burger, but since I knew we were going again on Friday, I convinced her to get the Sirloin so that I would know whether to get it on Friday.

My French Onion Soup came quickly and the melted cheese looked so yummy, and it was - I love cheese by the way. After poking through the cheese, the soup was equally good. Since it has been so cold in NYC these past couple of weeks, the nice warm soup totally hit the spot. The richness of the cheese and the savoriness of the broth just added to the overall yummy-high.

Then came our mains. My Smoked Duck was presented nicely on a bed of wilted spinach and a wild rice cake. Overall the dish was on the disappointing side. I am typically a huge fan of duck, but this time, it tasted overly smokey and was on the saltier side. The plus was that despite being salty, the duck flavor was really nice once you got over the initial salt shock. Texture wise, it was very soft and tender. Unfortunately I really couldn't get over the saltiness of the meat. The spinach and the rice cake were a nice compliment to the dish and helped to balance the intense flavor of the duck.

Perhaps I over hyped the duck in my mind prior to eating it. I really expected it to have a much more subtle and delicate taste to it rather than the overpowering salt taste...I guess I was expecting it to taste like the Eastern Gaspe Lox from Fairway, when in fact, the duck tasted like a thick cut of Belly Lox. Not terribly bad, but not terribly good either when I was expecting something much more balanced in flavor.

I finished by meal with a Coffee ice cream cone and a nice cup of coffee. The ice cream was, again, merely OK. I don't really like coffee ice cream with ground up coffee beans in it like this one had. Additionally, the sugar cone that they used had a paper wrapper on it that left paper residue on the cone so I wasn't able to eat the whole cone.

The coffee was quite good and was served in a very comfortable and large ceramic mug - kinda like you were enjoying a coffee at a friends house. Nice.

WHAT WE ATE
Starter:
French Onion Soup

Main:
Me: Smoked Duck Breast
Liz: Some salad thing - not too interesting
Sarah: Grilled Sirloin with fries - The fries were really tasty - I snuck a couple from her plate

Landmarc - Time Warner Center
It had been a long while since I had been to the Time Warner Center. This mega mall at Columbus Circle is actually kinda neat and has lots of great restaurants inside.

After a minor table issue, we were seated in a booth by a window. While we didn't get a table with the best views, it sure beat the high traffic table they tried to seat us at.

Having had a mediocre dinner this past Wednesday at their Tribeca restaurant, I was feeling hesitant about coming back on Friday. I revisited the menu and figured that I give the place another shot. This time I was pleasantly satisfied - everything was great.

I started with the Escargot Bordelaise. While it was good, I think they gave a few pieces too many for a single person. Sometimes food is most enjoyable when the portion size is just too small - this was one of those cases. The escargot was in a beautifully rich tasting sauce that was equally delicate. The sauce was also perfect for bread dipping.

For my main I ordered the Grilled Pork Chop. Heaven. So good. The chop had the perfect amount of fat and was perfectly cooked. I was so hesitant to order this as I was afraid that like so many other places, the chop would come out over cooked and dry. It wasn't.

This chop was prepared pretty naked - meaning without over doing it and trying too hard. Too often I find that food is prepared in a way that it becomes too complex because the chef tries too hard to make the flavors richer and deeper and in the end, the dish fails miserably because the flavors end up being so complex that things clash. Even the accompaniments to the dish were equally simplistic yet right.

Bite after bite, each piece had the perfect amount of fat attached and was extremely juicy. The best part was when I cut to the meat directly touching the bone. In my opinion, this is the best and most flavorful part of any meat.

After I polished off my chop, I saw that Liz had some scraps of her burger. I ate that up too and have now decided that if we come back to Landmarc, I'll be getting the burger.

For dessert, Liz and Hai Dan ordered some cones. Caleb and myself originally ordered two tiramisus, but in the end, we changed our minds and got the sampler. What a great deal. The desserts were all really good, but some got overshadowed. Out of the desserts within the sampler, the Lemon Tart, Blueberry Crumble, and Creme Brulee were head and shoulders above the rest. The Lemon Tart I had had once before when Liz brought home a slice from when she went with another friend. The Blueberry Crumble was just so comfortable feeling and the Creme Brulee was perfectly delicate.

WHAT WE ATE
Starters:
Me: Escargot Bordelaise
Caleb: Smoked Mozzarella & Ricotta Fritters
Hai Dan: French Onion Soup

Main:
Me: Grilled Pork Chop
Liz: Burger with American Cheese
Caleb: Burger with Cheddar Cheese
Hai Dan: Linguini con Vongole

Lighthouse, originally uploaded by 4L4N M4K.

I went out to East Hampton again this past weekend. Unfortunately it was a bit chilly this weekend so we didn't make it out to the beach. I really wish I did though since when I was in the elevator this evening I noticed how different I look now that I am tan - in a good way. All I know is that I tend to lose my tan coloration relatively rapidly, so I need to make it a point to bake a bit more before the summer is over. Hopefully the weather is nice during the Labor Day weekend since we'll be heading out to East Hampton again.

While we didn't go to the beach, we did actually go out to Montauk. When I was a kid we used to go to Montauk all the time...Really fun times - beach, seafood, and relaxation. I kept on talking about the cat and the black lab in Montauk that I used to play with while I was a kid. I remembered all the fun times playing with that stripped cat at Gosman's Dock!

While in Montauk we had the pleasure of going to Gosman's for a quick snack at the Topsiders Cafe. I never really noticed this place when I was younger - maybe it didn't exist. When I was a kid we'd always go to the lower level where the big benches and picnic tables were. I'm so glad that we went here for our afternoon snack after visiting the harbor and the lighthouse. I had a nice big plate of steamers as my snack; and boy were they good - super sweet and the perfect size - not too small so that there was no meat and not too large that the body was overwhelming. So perfect.

After our awesome snack we went back to the house and had dinner...HAHAHA...As you can see, I love eating. I ate so much that night! After the steamers I had 4 ribs and 3 drumsticks! Huzzah!

Summer Out of the City, originally uploaded by 4L4N M4K.

Wow, has it been this long?!?

Living in New York City there are a lot of things that you miss. Sunsets at the beach, the sound of the ocean, salty water crashing into your face, and the relaxation of the pace of Long Island.

When I was a kid we used to go out to the Hamptons for day trips. These days, now that I no longer live out on Long Island, those day trips are no more. My last time in the Hamptons was for Super Saturday - a designer clothing fund raiser that raised money for ovarian cancer research - a few years ago.

This weekend I traveled out to the eastern edge of East Hampton. I left the City at about 8PM and eventually made my way out to the house. Unfortunately I have a habit of inventing my own ways of getting to the places I need to go and sometimes that isn't the smartest thing. This was one of those cases and I ended up too far north and had to stumble my way back down south before I had gone too far east to do so. Luckily the guys at the gas station were helpful and pointed me in the right direction.

After hauling some ass to make up for lost time I made it onto the dark roads of East Hampton and was able to find my way to the house.

DAY 1

The next morning I kayaked for the first time - SO much fun! Those things are so much faster than the canoes that we rented during our trip last year to Whistler, British Columbia. After a leisurely ride out to this little island and scaring away the local birds with my silly duck calls I paddled back to the house and got ready to go to the beach - Oh how I miss the beach.

The beach was awesome - perfect water and tons of fun waves. I slapped on the SPF 15 and tanned for the second time this summer. I got a bit golden - like I was dipped in some light soy sauce - I'm like a "see yaw gai" now, by the way.

After a few hours of tanning and boogie boarding we left to go pick up our dinner. On the menu tonight were lobster, clams, mussels, and some veggies. We went to the most weird and obscure of seafood places to get our stuff - the place sounded like they sold more pool supplies and water filtration systems rather than seafood. Whoever thought of this name must have been aching to not have any customers - the place was called Multi Aquaculture Systems - WTF, who names a seafood market that?!? Even more weird were these gigantic dogs in cages hanging out by the fish pools. I wasn't really sure if they were breeding fish or fighting dogs!

Once we got in we inquired about the price of the clams and the lady said they were $5.50 a "douzen"...Huh, $5.50 a thousand? Yes, $5.50 a "douzen"...Hahaha...she meant "dozen". Of course I was the only one that understood...Otherwise that would have been one SlickDeal! Awesome dinner - we grilled up the clams and steamed our lobsters to perfection. I had the big momma lobster and it had a ton of bright red roe in it - so much so that I unfortunately couldn't even eat all of it.

After dinner we headed out to Scoop Du Jour for some yummies. I had my fave - strawberry ice cream - yes, I know I am boring with ice cream. After the ice cream we headed back to the house and went to bed.

DAY 2

We slept in this morning and missed the early morning kayaking but rushed to get out of the house to head to the beach before all the parking was filled up.

Once again the water was perfect - this time a bit less of a current and smaller waves but a touch more undertow. Unfortunately this day at the beach I managed to sink my vintage Ray Ban Aviators - so sad - mostly because of the sentimental value as those glasses were my dads. So dumb of me. I am usually so careful but this time a biggie wave hit me on the back and swept my Ray Bans away when I turned my head for a brief moment.

After another nice afternoon tanning and getting even more golden, we headed back for a quick dinner before I headed back out to the City.

Driving back was OK as I didn't hit much traffic. I actually managed to follow the directions for most of the way through the short cut - but I'm still not certain the road names are right. Luckily the car in front of me was from Port Washington (where I grew up) and I was able to follow him most of the way. I finally got onto Route 27 anticipating a quick drive to the LIE...Yeah, fat chance. I hit a major jam shortly before the exit for Route 104...Once again the explorer in me set out to find a new way...and I new way was found...I got onto the LIE and it was smooth sailing from there...After about 2 hours and 45 minutes I was back in Manhattan and so concluded my Hamptons weekend.

This coming weekend I'll be out there again. Hopefully by then I'll have a new pair of Ray Bans and some nicely pre-tanned skin ready for some additional color. Huzzah.