Dinner at Tempo
Restaurant week is something I look forward to as it affords me the opportunity to try a variety of places. This evening in Brooklyn, a friend and I went to eat at Tempo. It had a good write-up in The New Yorker last year and it was on my list of places to check out.
What can I say about the meal? The two entrees were very good. The salmon had been seared so nicely that the top was caramelized and glistened under the subdued lighting. It was served with a tart apple and fennel salad that Tina found acidic but for me it balanced out the sweetness of the charred salmon. If it had been less sharp, it would not have stood out as being impeccably paired.
I chose buccatini which came mounded in a large soup bowl and tasted heavenly. It had all the ingredients that are dear to my heart - lemon zest, bread crumbs, French slim green beans in a melange of what tasted like an anchovy based sauce - yum! it was finger licking good.
The two appetizers - a faro salad and duck rolls are best quickly forgotten.
The desserts offered with gelato or sorbet. These were dreadful. Tina chose the vanilla & nutella ice cream paired with the mango and basil sorbet. Mango and basil? Ugh! Even contemplating this pairing is horrible and one bite sent my mouth into spasms of disgust and I gulped water hastily to neutralize the onslaught of terror in my mouth. The harsh basil had completely overpowered the delicate mango. Why can't we just have plain mango or mango with vanilla swirls or mango and cream? Who pairs mango with basil? Who? I like basil in pasta sauces or with chicken not with panna cotta or chocolate desserts. Do normal people like mango with basil? I seriously doubt it. Just because a restaurant decides that this is what their customers will like doesn't mean that they will. If I combined mango with kari patta (used only in savory dishes in India) and served it to my Mother, she would have my temperature taken at once and shake her head in dismay. Leave it well alone. Serve something simple and tasty, even if it's old fashioned.
My two choices - vanilla with nutella - why not just vanilla with chocolate swirls? What's wrong with that? Tina thought the nutella was odd as well. The other was orange with cardamom - okay but not memorable.
So tonight I hope that I will not wake up shuddering that someone is force feeding me mango and basil whatever. Instead I want to have pleasant dreams of the delicious buccatini.
What can I say about the meal? The two entrees were very good. The salmon had been seared so nicely that the top was caramelized and glistened under the subdued lighting. It was served with a tart apple and fennel salad that Tina found acidic but for me it balanced out the sweetness of the charred salmon. If it had been less sharp, it would not have stood out as being impeccably paired.
I chose buccatini which came mounded in a large soup bowl and tasted heavenly. It had all the ingredients that are dear to my heart - lemon zest, bread crumbs, French slim green beans in a melange of what tasted like an anchovy based sauce - yum! it was finger licking good.
The two appetizers - a faro salad and duck rolls are best quickly forgotten.
The desserts offered with gelato or sorbet. These were dreadful. Tina chose the vanilla & nutella ice cream paired with the mango and basil sorbet. Mango and basil? Ugh! Even contemplating this pairing is horrible and one bite sent my mouth into spasms of disgust and I gulped water hastily to neutralize the onslaught of terror in my mouth. The harsh basil had completely overpowered the delicate mango. Why can't we just have plain mango or mango with vanilla swirls or mango and cream? Who pairs mango with basil? Who? I like basil in pasta sauces or with chicken not with panna cotta or chocolate desserts. Do normal people like mango with basil? I seriously doubt it. Just because a restaurant decides that this is what their customers will like doesn't mean that they will. If I combined mango with kari patta (used only in savory dishes in India) and served it to my Mother, she would have my temperature taken at once and shake her head in dismay. Leave it well alone. Serve something simple and tasty, even if it's old fashioned.
My two choices - vanilla with nutella - why not just vanilla with chocolate swirls? What's wrong with that? Tina thought the nutella was odd as well. The other was orange with cardamom - okay but not memorable.
So tonight I hope that I will not wake up shuddering that someone is force feeding me mango and basil whatever. Instead I want to have pleasant dreams of the delicious buccatini.
posted by Acadeka and that rum cake @ 8:42 PM
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