
Time keeps tickin' along and with it the necessity of celebrating my 21st birthday - again.
What's a Vamp to do? Do it up with style. Style topped with freshly shaved white truffles, of course!
The afternoon of the big day, I grabbed a stool at Otto and was easily swayed to indulge in the White Truffle and Robiola Bosina Pizza (pictured above). The smell alone was intoxicating. Paired with a quartino of crisp, fruit-forward Kerner, it was the perfect festive lunch before my usual birthday pampering ritual - an hour-long reflexology session at a quaint, underground, West Village parlor, aptly named Angel Feet.
With tootsies in order, I headed back to the County of Kings, where a friend with a very friendly pair of blue eyes took me out to Jack the Horse Tavern for a fizzy cocktail, aptly named Behind the Knees.
I hated to leave the bar - not to mention the pair of blue eyes - but a gaggle of gal pals awaited on Smith Street. We all converged on a Brooklyn culinary star called The Grocery. The restaurant's Zagat-topping dining room was tiny and packed to the rafters. One glance at the mouthwatering menu and a warm greeting from our server and I could see why.
This was definitely a good choice for dinner. Within minutes my friends and I descended into chatter and headlong into a bottle of French white wine.
Talk only ceased momentarily, as I let out a low moan biting into my Fois Gras appetizer and similar gasps of pleasure were illicited around the table from a small plate of Goat Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Beets, Fried Shallots and Toasted Pinenuts. Mmmmm...What was next?
Unable to make the fateful decision between The Grocery's impressive list of entrees, I had wussed out - asking the chef to decide. I wondered what could possibly top the Fois Gras.
Note to self: Be a wuss more often.
My entree was a humdinger - Slow Rendered Duck Breast in a Carmelized Red Wine Sauce, plated with Celery Root Mash and Sauteed Cabbages.
What kind of sweet could follow?
It was time to be a wuss once more.
We asked our server to bring out the best dessert on the menu for the five of us to share. I suspected that the Chocolate Fig Cake would emerge from the kitchen, but we were all delighted by her deeply satisying choice of deep dish Apple Cobbler with dollop of housemade Vanilla Ice Cream.
Were five very happy ladies as we headed out into the night - three to head home- and my pal Joy and I off to for a nightcap. Where to go? Another visit to Jack the Horse seemed unseemly. But then again, another one of those Behind the Knees would be a wonderful ending to a wonderful day...
Needless to say, it was.
I adore being 21.