A Tale Of Two Tartares
UPPER EAST SIDE, NYC | Yes, It's been quite a while since I last posted. Yes, I'm remiss about that. A major lifestyle change has made made changes in my schedule and free time as well. All for the better.
And as life gets better, I better get back to enjoying it! Which, of course, means enjoying myself through food and its exploration. Which also sometimes means that I get to follow up some places I haven't visited in quite some time.
One of those places is Cafe D'Alsace, where I last enjoyed some grilled sardines and a Croque Madame (five years ago almost to the day!), and I most recently had the great good fortune of having a dear friend Judith invite me to lunch with her there—having missed my stellar (!!) company due to aforementioned lifestyle changes.
We met for lunch and kept the ordering simple, choosing both versions of tartare available for lunch. She had the organic salmon tartare, a mold of large-diced, bright and fresh raw salmon, accented traditionally but with great balance by soy sauce and sesame seeds, accompanied with crisp, aromatic tufts of wakame dressed in olive oil and lemon juice. I savored the classic tartare of finely ground raw sirloin, bolstered by a heady, complimentary combination of capers, shallots, and dijon mustard. Both spread well on toasted country bread and made for a cozy, French country-comfortable meal, one I could finally enjoy with a friend I have been long overdue for sharing a meal with.
So it was very nice to have a life now where I could easily enjoy both.
