Le Eating in Le Nouveau Pomme

I recently turned 30.

And for my birthday, I got to eat WHERE I wanted.  I chose two places in the West Village.  Yes, TWO.  I went out twice.  Sue me.  Once on Saturday when all my Vancouver friends came into town and once on my actual birthday with the Engineer and two dear friends.

This is the tale of the yummiest things to eat on your 30th Birthday.

#1 Palma

www.palmanyc.com

Palma is a delightful Mediterranean restaurant run by Palma D'Orazio.  They have an amazing back garden that is painted in yellow and white.  It is the perfect escape from the bustling streets of New York - for one evening you can sit in the fairy-lit garden under the stars and eat amazing food.  Unfortunately, you cannot sit a group of 10 girls out there.  So we sat in the window.  Which was just as nice - the windows were thrown open and the late summer breeze wafted in.  Do you want to go now?  

See?  I haven't even told you about the food!!

For an appetizer, I shared:

- arancini Siciliani.  In other words?  Fried rice balls.  But not just any fried rice balls.  Italian fried rice balls.  Which means creamy, cheesy risotto, rolled into a scrumptious ball and then deep fried.  I just had a mini-mouth orgasm thinking about it.

- polpettine de carne.  Meatballs.  Damn good meatballs with tomato and basil.  DROOL.  

Then I had dinner.  Won't lie.  A bit inebriated from the white wine at this point so don't really remember.  I am sure it was good.

And it was followed up by tiramisu as pictured.  It was light, creamy and delightfully rich.  

More wine.  YUM.

#2 Le Gigot

www.legigotrestaurant.com

French.  Country.  Food.  

GO.

Le Gigot is terribly cosy inside -you feel as if you are somewhere in Paris, or better yet, Provence.  Actually, anywhere is France is fine by me.  

For dinner they have a prix fixe menu which turned out to be a great deal ($45), for an extra $20 you get a flight of wine.  We got on board.

Course one: gateaux crab.  And not just a touch of crab with some bread crumbs - but WHOLE lump crap held together with deliciousness.  It was huge!  And, yes, delicious.  The wine was white.  And good?  I often forget wine the minute I taste food.  I know - that's bad right?

Course two:  Duck Confit.

What can I say?

I am a duck confit virgin.  I know!  Shriek!  Gasp!  I eat all the time and have never had this delicacy!!!  

If you are going to lose your duck confit virginity, let it be this good.  So duck confit is:

duck leg poached in FAT for ten hours.  

Everything about that sentence is good.  

Our portion was large.  And good.  And fatty.  And buttery.  And I had mini-mouth-orgasms with each bite.

Wine?  Red.

Course three:  chocolate lava cake.

Our server was so good.  He had overheard T wish me a 'Happy Birthday' so had adorned my cake with a candle!  He got a good tip :)  The cake was incredible.  Although, I feel any chocolate cake with melty chocolate inside is fabulous.  

Wine?  Dessert and amazingly sweet and tart.

Book your trip to NYC now.  And then go to these places.  Your stomach will not disappoint.

www.bridesmaidiaries.com