Day #10

Saturday- our last day!
Brunch at Corsino






Olive tapenade crostini, and cauliflower, parmesan and pine nut crostini


Baked eggs with tomatoes, basil and parmesan


Dude. This was seriously amazing!


Truffled egg toast with cheese and asparagus


Each got a free Bellini for checking in on foursquare!


Free ones taste the best!


After brunch, we packed, and took all our purchases to the UPS store to ship home for us. We have started doing this in the past couple years since we never check bags when we travel. It's still cheaper to ship home a 50 lb box by UPS than it is to check 2 bags 4 times at the airport. And UPS will not lose your stuff like the airlines can. So, this option is a no brainer for us!

Later on, we went to a free wine tasting at Union Sq Wine Shop. In honor of Bastille day, they had all French wine to taste.



We were shocked at the crowd- it was absolutely packed! We realized why it was so crazy there when we got in the tasting room- there were over 30 wines to taste! All for free! I've never heard of such a huge wine tasting!








Since that is an insane amount of wine to taste, we chose about half that amount. It was fun despite the crowd.

Next we decided we needed a snack, so we went to one of our favorite places, Terrior. They have the best tapas; we have never had a dish there we didn't like!
Scott got his favorite, Beet Risotto balls with Gorgonzola cheese:



Yeah, buddy!


I usually get the veal and ricotta meatballs or the sage leaf wrapped lamb sausage, but decided to try something new this time, Tonnato and Celery Brushetta



Tonnato is a Sicilian tuna fish dish, and it was delicious!


The menu here is great; so eclectic with the most interesting foods.


We walked home and finished packing, then got ready for dinner






We walked a few blocks to dinner to this restaurant called Takashi, a Yakiniku restaurant. This is Japanese for "cooking grilled meat" that is cooked by the diners at the table. The only thing they serve is sustainably raised beef from a few select farms- perfect!






There are 2 types of beef you could get: raw, or to be grilled tableside. We had both kinds. For an appetizer, we had raw beef achilles tendon in ponzu sauce:


Even though the thought of this was a little gross, the taste definitely was not! It was slightly chewy and had a delicious light beefy flavor. Very good!


Oh, and before the tendon, they gave us complimentary snacks to enjoy:



From left to right: garlicky bean sprouts, spicy kimchi, and cabbage with a white miso sauce. This is a classic example of why the Japanese are not fat. This is their type of appetizer, pickled vegetables, while us Americans graze on rolls and bread baskets with a processed margarine spread. We could learn a lot from them!
So here is what we ordered to grill:
Scott got a plate of offal, which was beef heart, liver, 1st stomach, 4th stomach, and sweetbreads (thymus gland)
Yep, pretty gross! But he loved it all except the stomachs- said they were too chewy.








I am not quite as adventurous, so I got the Kobe beef short rib



And also the beef belly






We cooked each piece 1-2 minutes per side. I really liked the belly, but the short ribs were a little too fatty. My favorite of all were the sweetbreads- they are so tender and flavorful.
All in all we had a fun time grilling our own food and trying new adventurous foods, but neither of us felt the meal was outstanding. But a vey fun experience and a fun ending to a wonderful trip!

Good bye New York, we'll see you again soon!