delicious!

off we went to Monteverde for a fundraising dinner as the kick off for the Fulton Market Harvest Fest... three chefs cooking and some pretty darn amazing food.

we started with hors d'oeuvres of extremely tender and tasty pork spiedini, kale "arancini", prosciutto butter toasts and this outstanding spaghetti and caviar shooter, along with rose champagne from Moet and a lovely cocktail extremely reminiscent of Aperol Spritz... what's not to love? LOL

dishes shown in order they appear on the menu-

table mates get a shot with Chef Dady

the big winners in my opinion were three- the tortelloni - the braised beef tongue and the service - which was truly outstanding!

Excellent evening with lovely dining companions Quinn, Lucky, Laura and Jessie - fun to share a table and talk to new foodie folks!  This not only closes out our week (we have tomorrow night off LOL) but gives us a chance to get ready for the big trip coming up.... time to think seriously about packing... we leave in less than four days - but you may find another post before we leave since you never know what life brings.... LOL

return to tanta

So last night we returned to Tanta to see if it was as good as we thought it was the first visit.  And yes- it was...

we had some things that were repeats and some new items which looked good to try-

we started with the two favorite in the Tiraditos and Cebiches categories- classico and nikei

both still terrific!  Then we went on to the pulpo - amazingly tender and beautifully spiced! (new to us dish)

a repeat of the carne empanadas which we LOVED both times I would go there just to eat these!

another new to us dish - from the sea - scallops with foam of aged Parmesan - Phil liked this one better  than I did -

then we went on to our very favorite from the last visit - the pork fried rice dish which was our main reason for returning! 

and we had it with two new to us entrees - the short rib and the duck - we thought the whole fish was too much for just the two of us and the chicken was the least inspired dish of our last visit so - on to some new things-

the short rib was served with a marvelous tarro puree and the duck with a fab verde rice both incredibly flavorful for starch accompaniments -

plenty of left overs came home with us and served as lunch LOL-  

tonight we are meeting a new acquaintance at Osteria Langhe... we met her last week at TFL Next - she was our wine somm for the evening.  We got to discussing wine and thought it would be fun to get together in a more relaxed environment.... so we know the food is great at Osteria Langhe and the Tuesday trifecta a reasonable prixe fix menu seemed like the perfect choice for dinner with someone we barely know LOL.... more later on that evening.  Then on Wednesday we are headed way out west to a chef's kitchen dinner at Hanbun...

 more on that one too! stay tuned...