Another Holiday, Another Day Full of Food

With Fourth of July falling right in the middle of the week, there’s not much to do but to make the most of it if you were grounded in town like me.  And for me, a day off means only two things – eat and cook!

Kicking off the day of food off with an early end to work on Tuesday at Maison Premiere in Williamsburg.  From 4-7 every week day, this oyster bar serves $1 oysters from over 20 selections it offers.  It’s not every day that we can end the work day so early so we intended to take full advantage of this rare opportunity and rushed over at 4.30pm.

Snagging the last two seats at the bar, we beat out a small crowd of oyster hungry and cocktail thirty crowd.  The quirky old school oyster bar is perfect for day dreaming while watching the bartenders work at a furious pace, churning out various concoctions.

Refreshing Hurricane and Pimm’s Cup were perfect for the humid and hot day while we waited for our oysters.

Finally the wait is over.  With 13 types of fresh oysters from both coasts plus 2 types of clams each, we were in heaven.  Some were briny and crisp while others were sweet and creamy.  Some tasted full of the sea while others were much more mild.  Sometimes, I slurped the bivalves with just a squeeze of lemon and with sometimes, a dash of mignonette and horseradish.  Maybe a little dollop of cocktail sauce too, all up to me and my fancy.

Still hungry after polishing off the two layer towers of oysters and clams, we headed over to Samurai Mama for some light Japanese fare.  A little bit of salad with crispy sardines and scallop sashimi with uni paste on top made for light appetizers.  The chilled tuna tartare udon came with fried avocado slices and a poached egg on top while the salmon and ikura bukkake udon was just that, slices of cured salmon with a generous scoop of beautiful ikura.  A quick toss with the soy based broth and we proceeded to slurp down these refreshingly cool noodles.  Ahh, perfect bowls for a hot day.

Woke up to a beautiful but humid day on the 4th of July, I started the day off with a whole wheat flatz bagel with low fat scallion cream cheese from Murray’s.  Still one of my favorite flat bagels out there.  No time to waste, I started churning out crepes one after another to make a mille crepe cake.

Twenty-seven crepes and layers of pastry cream later, a tall rustic cake appeared!  Into the fridge it goes to rest before heading over to Midtown West preparing to surprise someone for their birthday.

Of course, I couldn’t help but sneak a little snack with a few extra crepes.  These were so thin and light, perfect with a drizzle of Poor Farm maple syrup and fresh plump blueberries.

Before the fireworks were set off in the sky, I managed to squeeze in a feast at Pio Pio with the Matador combo, with maduras substituted in.  This is definitely one of those meals that manages to satisfy every single time, no matter what.  And yes, those are fries with slices of hot dogs.

After half an hour of the Macy’s fireworks lighting up the sky on the Hudson River and watching thousands of people scramble to get a better view on 42nd street, it’s time for the birthday cake for JZ!  A little early but I think we managed to surprise her!  Mission accomplished.

Maison Premiere | 298 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211 | http://maisonpremiere.com

Samurai Mama | 205 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211 | http://www.samuraimama.com/

Pio Pio | 604 10th Avenue  New York, NY 10036 | http://www.piopio.com/