I recently went home to Los Angeles and did a photo shoot with Lucky Bird at Grand Central Market. You know I can’t stay away from fried chicken. Lucky Bird opened in Aug 2018 by Chef Chris Dane and Christine Dane. While they are the new kids of the current wave of new fried chicken restaurants opening in LA, Chef Dane has been planning and building out Lucky Bird since 2016.
Episode 1
Tuesday May 1
Sunny 79 degrees WNW 6mph
Lunch: Breakfast burrito at Irving Farm in Midtown East
Currently listening to Scandal - Take Me Out
I'm not quite sure why I wanted (or had the urge to) to start blogging again. Maybe because I have pretty much stopped posting on Facebook and Twitter. I'm mostly just reading stuff. And so I need a new (or old) outlet for my thoughts. Maybe also because in 10 or 20 years, I would like to know what I ate for lunch on May 1 2018.
Seriously though it's easy to remember the big events in your life. It's quite hard to remember the smaller and mundane stuff. Like having a normal commute with normal delays which nowadays is a miracle. Also feeling great about my decision to have a breakfast burrito and a cortado for lunch. There was bacon in the burrito. And then there was a quick pizza meet up with a buddy that I don't see that often anymore. We love pizza. He's sort of off doing his own thing with his gf, living his life. And I'm doing my own thing with my gf. We have our own paths but I think it's important to hang out and meet up in real life once in a while. And finally my lady and I made a folded cheeseburger in a tortilla. It was inspired by the amazing folded cheeseburger pita from Miznon in Chelsea Market. It was mighty delicious. She saved me half of a cookie from The City Bakery. (*heart) We both agreed The City Bakery makes some of the best cookies in NYC.
Side note, Francis Lam's podcast voice is quite soothing to the ears as you're getting ready to sleep.
Behind-The-Scenes At Barbuto
in Behind the Scenes, Food, NYC, Restaurants
Thank you to the crew at Barbuto for letting me photograph them as they were getting ready for dinner service.
I've been a fan of the restaurant and their roast chicken dish ever since I went there for one of my birthday lunches. It was mid March. I ordered the roast chicken with salsa verde and a glass of house wine. The weather was mild for March and I took advantage of it by sitting outside. It was perfect.
Barbuto was opened by Jonathan Waxman back in 2004! I didn't know it has been around for that long. Good for them!
Hot Dish
I met Molly Yeh in Sept 2010 at the Vendy Awards. She was the winner of a month long free schnitzel from the Schnitzel & Things truck. Back then I was taking photos for the owners. The owners had asked Molly to help them at the Vendy and that was how we met and have been friends since then.
It's been awesome seeing Molly's journey. 6 years doesn't seem that long but so much has changed. OMG!
Anyways, go buy her book. I have already made this hot dish 3 times in the last 4 weeks. It's SO GOOD. It's like getting a super awesome warm hug when it's super freezing outside.
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Black pepper
18 ounces frozen Tater Tots
Ketchup, for serving (optional)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Kosher salt
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups whole milk
Enough chicken broth base to make 3 cups broth
Preheat the oven to 400 F
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat.
Add the onion and carrots and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring until soft, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed.
Add 1 1/2 cups of the milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Repeat with the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk.
Stir in the chicken broth base, peas, chicken, thyme, and a few turns of pepper and simmer, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes.
Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings if desired.
Transfer the mixture to an 11x8 inch baking dish (or other 3-quart ovenproof dish) and cover the bitch with Tater Tots.
Arrange them snugly and neatly.
Bake until the tots are golden brown.
Begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes.
Let cool slightly and serve with ketchup, if desired.
