Every year at Christmas season HG meets restaurateur daughter Victoria for lunch. (The tradition started five years ago.) Vicki manages to obtain a comfortable corner table for two at Balthazar. This is no mean feat since the French style brasserie is preposterously busy during the holiday period, even packed at the usual “dead’ hours like 4PM. HG usually sees Vicki at one of the four restaurants she runs with husband/chef/partner Marc Meyer (Cookshop, Hundred Acres, Vic’s, Rosie’s). This means HG and Vicki don’t have the opportunity to review life, voice opinions, etc.. HG has to share Vicki with customers, chefs, waitpersons, etc. Thus, the Balthazar lunch. As usual, the duo dove into a mammoth plateau de fruits de mer–oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, lobster, ceviche. Superb, fresh-from-the-sea quality. Downed two carafes of the house Muscadet. Finished with creme brûlée and a (comped) wedge of cheesecake. Lunch began at 1:30. Finished at 4:30. Three hours of delightful father-and-daugher companionship. Lucky HG. One would think that after this briny marathon, HG would be through with food for the day. One would be wrong. At 8PM, HG/BSK, EM, Handsome Haru and super cute Teru were knocking off big bowls of ramen at Naruto Ramen on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. The special “Naruto Ramen” is a soy broth based noodle soup with a hard boiled egg, roast pork, scallions, dried seaweed, fish cake and bean spouts. A hearty dish, indeed. There was also a platter of very good gyoza and some fried rice (for Teru). Surprise of the night: Japanese pomme frites. The spice dusted French fries were the best HG has ever tasted (BSK agreed). They were served with a fiery dip. HG wondered: “Where have these Asian spuds been hiding all these years?” HG drank some icy sake: “Ozeki One Cup.” BSK drank Sapporo draft beer. Great casual dining.
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