Checked in: New Street Grill

The other night I met up with my dear friend Laurene, who was just passing through London for the night. We met up with her friend Francois who suggested we check out New Street Wine and New Street Grill, part of the D&D chain. You can buy wine from the wine shop and bring it over for an £8 corkage fee. This is pretty good considering most places will charge you £20 and up.

Laurene's taste in wine is impeccable and hanging out with her is like taking a 101 on wine. She spoke highly of wines from Piedmont and chose a Langhe Nebbiolo 2010. The Nebbiolo grape is the same grape used in Barolo, my favorite wine. This bottle delivered strong flavor, a beautiful fragrance with a medium body, which made it easy to down before our meal.

The Grill is a fancy restaurant, unlike the casual ambiance of it's neighboring sister restaurant Fish Market. We got to sit in a lovely booth in the bar area and decided to go straight into mains, which consisted of meats and seafood.

I was on a bit of budget and I don't really eat meat, so I went for the 1/2 grilled lobster with fries for £17.50. It was delicious, but I immediately compared it to my experience at Burger & Lobster. First, there is no easy way to eat grilled lobster. If you want to REALLY get at that meat, you need to get your hands dirty. So despite all the fancy utensils I had at my disposal, it got a little messy and I felt a bit like Daryl Hannah in Splash. For basically the same price, B&L give you the whole lobster plus a bib and mallet. Just saying...

Laurene went for the Vol-au-vent with wild mushrooms and spinach, which is a puff pastry base with chicken. She said it was delicious and it looked very tempting.

 

And Francois chose the Devilled free-range spring chicken with crumb and mustard. 

We finished our meal with the saddest cheese plate ever and a very tart lemon & vodka sorbet. The cheese slices were so tiny, it was ridiculous. I have a high threshold for sourness, but it was too intense for my friends and I would presume for most people. A nice meal, but I expected more for the price.

In the Kitchen: Creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese

On Election Night, I wanted to make a classic American dish for dinner (obvs) and I immediately thought of a restaurant in the Flatiron district that used to serve delicious gourmet soups with paired grilled sandwiches for dipping. I wanted something easy and that would go down well with the Hub and my friend Erin.

Naturally I turned to the Food Network for ideas and I always prefer the American site. They speak my language - cups, cans, no grams. I chose Ina Garten's Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup although this recipe with grilled cheese croutons was a close contender. Ina's soup was delicious and very rich. I think next time I will substitute the cream with natural yogurt or experiment with a non-dairy milk.

Grilled cheese is a no brainer, but choose your loaf and cheese wisely. I picked up a nutty wholewheat loaf with a combo of mozzarella and spicy mature cheddar. The heat from the fiery chili complimented the creaminess of my soup. I ended up serving them pancake style, halved and piled up high on a plate for grabbing & dipping. 

It was a wonderful evening and we eventually celebrated Obama's win at around 5:30am. We even stayed up to hear his speech!

Where will you be watching the US 2012 Election tonight?

Photo courtesy of Dribbble

There are some pretty nifty parties going on in London and I checked out BarChick and Londonist for ideas within the vicinity of Hackney. For the 2008 Election, I was in London and I spent the evening debating about whether to trek out to Central London to watch the election live. In the end, my lazy ass missed out and I made a vow to go out and experience the election expat style.

I'm meeting up with Erin Donnelly and the Hub to watch the drama as it unfolds and we really liked the look of the following soirees:

OFF BROADWAY
Our local bar is owned (co-owned?) by an American and their splash page says it all "An East Village bar that got lost and ended up in East London." Great drinks, great atmosphere, nice & chatty bartenders. According to BarChick, for a fiver we can participate in political debates to win drinks and enjoy coffee, bar snacks, Beavertown beer and donkey and elephant shooters until we find out who wins.

Photo courtesy of Off Broadway

BETHNAL GREEN WORKING MEN'S CLUB
This place is awesome, its got an OLD school bar downstairs filled with Bethnal Green's retirees and on the ground floor, a laid back East end lounge. Thom Tuck of the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society will be hosting the US Election Giggle 2012.  I love the idea of a night filled with political jokes/comedic jabs at our candidates to pass time while the polls roll in between midnight & dawn. The drinks here are hella' cheap so for £10, not bad. 

RED HOOK
I'm dying to check out Red Hook in Farringdon, in fact going their on Thursday (sorry Hub). Owned by Milk & Honey, they're selling tix for £65 and you get New York Sours or Chardonnay, all you can eat ribs plus fries/corn/slaw/pecan pie, unlimited American beer and Grey Goose Vodka espresso cocktails. If you make it pass midnight, hot dogs and breakfast to-go await. The jokes on the site are crackin'. Check it out.

Photo courtesy of TimeOut

THE LEXINGTON
Heading towards Angel, The Lexington pub will be covering the results on big screens. At a glance this sounds typical, but alas they will be dishing out FREE American fare late night. Expect hotdogs, twinkies and other sugary treats. Halloween leftovers, maybe?

We will most likely end up at Off Broadway...that is after I make a delicious American-esque meal. I'm thinking Ina Garten's cream of fresh tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dipping. I'm so excited and so scared. Pictures will follow.