Blub Blub

My pants fit. This is not good. At the beginning of the week (let alone the beginning of the summer), my pants were a little loose. Now, after an indulgent and delectable (and totally worth it) week of yummy food, I have officially blubbered a little this week. This week's culprits really wow-ed me:

On Wednesday, I went to Asia de Cuba for a funky, yummy lunch with some of my favorite summers at the firm. The restaurant was bustling with what apparently was a sorority reunion of some sort. (But don't let that dissuade you from trying the place!) Dishes are served family-style, which worked very well because it gave us all the opportunity to try a lot of different flavors. The star dishes (in my mind) were the calimari salad, the fried plantain (SO GOOD), and the Cuban spiced chicken. For dessert, we had the sorbet selection (delicious and beautifully presented) and the coconut cake (ridiculously coconut-y and super duper rich -- almost too rich for me *gasp*).

On Thursday, in preparation for our meat-fest later that evening, a bunch of us went to Sushi Yasuda for a light sushi lunch. I had been here before during my call-back with this firm, so, having had a delicious meal before, I went expecting great things. I was not disappointed. The sushi here is beyond words wonderful. It is so fresh, I swear all of the fish must have been swimming scant hours before the meal. I had a variety of sushi, including a tuna roll, egg sushi, tuna sushi, squid, and (drumroll) cherrystone clam. I was very excited to try a new sushi, and the clam was very good. I love the texture of clam and the taste is not offensive like oysters. (No offense to oyster lovers out there.) What I was disappointed about this time, though, was the service. It seemed like they wanted to hurry us out of there! Granted, at the time of making the reservation, they mentioned something vague about having something going on where we would need to finish by 1:30, but clearing up quickly and telling us they had run out (or didn't have in the first place?) any of the listed desserts was ridiculous! Anyway, the sushi was fabulous, so we left content.

Thursday night was the Business & Finance group's Meat Fest at Churrascaria Plataforma, a Brazilian meat fest restaurant. In case you haven't been to a Brazilian barbecue place before, let me describe the scene: You sit down, they give you a marker with red on one side (for stop) and green on the other (for go), and then the parade begins. Meat after meat after meat comes by you (as long as you're still green lighting, that is), and the waiters present the various cuts on long skewers. At least ten different cuts of steak, pork, chicken, sausage, etc. passed by, not to mention the salmon option they also offered. My table completely bypassed the (apparently phenomenal) salad bar in favor of getting straight to the good stuff. It was a good thing we did because there was more meat than we could literally chew. What peeved us, though, was that we (by which I mean the people at my table) saved (some) room for dessert in the hopes that they would continue this completely gluttonous feast and offer us multiple desserts. Sadly, disappointingly, frustratingly enough, they did not. No, they did not. "Only one dessert per person." Which makes you wonder...they'll give you unlimited amounts of meat for who knows how long, but they'll only allow you one dessert? Let's all hear it: Hrm.

Yesterday, though, was the incredibly most wonderfully divine lunch ever! Before, I'd stated that Jean-Georges was my favorite lunch. Friday's lunch is right up there with it. We went to Bouley, and it was amazing. It is definitely the best meal for the money that I've had in the city. I had the Chef's tasting menu: sashimi quality tuna with shaved fennel, steamed Chatham halibut, Long Island duckling, and the chocolate souffle. The food was crazy good, and the experience was just flat out really enjoyable. The staff was warm, friendly, and accessible (granted, it helps that the attorney I was with knew the staff), and the restaurant's layout and decor was welcoming and homey. I have to mention the bread. The bread. Is. Amazing. I had soooo much bread, and it was all soooo good. Among them were the garlic bread (AWESOME with little chunks of garlic), fig bread (for those with simpler tastes), black & white pepper bread (muy caliente! bread), and (my absolute favorite) the saffron walnut bread. *drools* They were kind enough to wrap up some saffron walnut bread for me, which I lovingly enjoyed this afternoon while I sat in the shade under a tree in Central Park, alternately reading my book and people watching. Yay for saffron walnut bread and yay for Bouley!

Now that I think about it, those trousers-that-now-fit are TOTALLY worth it.