March Recap

The month of March turned out to be busier than expected. We (finally) closed on a co-op apartment, a deal that has been in the works since August of last year. Between settling up the paperwork and making arrangements to move, we've had little time for much else.

And when you have little time, that exactly when unexpected things pop up.

In the first part of the month, I spent a few days in Austin, Texas, for the SXSW festival, doing more writing and reporting work than eating, I'm sad to report. But it was still a fun trip. Soon after, I headed down to Florida to see some family members. This past week we've focused on finding people who can take over our rental apartment. Everything that has come up has taken well more than one day... a lot of mental preparation and physical follow-through.

The good news is I've had several very good meals during this busy month. The day we signed the closing papers for our new home, Boyfriend and I celebrated at Casa Mono in New York, an upscale and modern Spanish tapas and wine restaurant. Notable from that meal was the skirt steak with romesco sauce and onion marmalade ($18), a mingling of juicy meat and sweet counterbalance. Bacalao croquetas with orange aioli ($9; shown) could have stood up to four appetites, although we only brought two.

Fat Radish, also in Manhattan, while not as memorable and classy as Casa Mono, wowed me with a vegetable-focused menu that was anything but dull. Roasted cauliflower with olives, raisins, and almonds ($14, probably double the price it should have been) mastered that same sweet-savory balance found in Casa Mono's skirt steak. The deviled (that is, bacon-wrapped) brussel sprouts ($8 for six pieces) popped with smokey flavor. Service crawled, and the main dishes weren't as stunning as what we ate to start, but I may return just to see what the beetroot crumble, with goat's cheese, swiss chard, hazelnuts, and oats, is all about.