I recently returned from a several-years-overdue two-week vacation in France (with a brief coda in Barcelona). I’m lining up several posts over the next week or two. I’ll skip the super-detailed reports and just hit the highs, for my sanity and yours.

To kick things off, here is the quintessential Parisian food, the Croque Monsieur. I’m not even sure where this was from—after this trip the number of food photos on my iPhone has reached a truly embarrassing level. But, it looks fantastic and very French, and what better way to kick off this series of posts?

Three standouts from Lafayette, the new Andrew Carmellini (and Luke and Josh) “everyday French restaurant.” Whatever an everyday French restaurant is, the place is already fantastic and it’s not even fully operational yet. These guys have the magic touch for making restaurants that somehow pull off being both a scene and completely casual at the same time.

The food delivers, too. The rabbit casserole was outstanding and it’s worth a trip for that alone—the stuffed loin pieces were about as good as rabbit gets and the potato pavé-tomato-y-thing was a great accompaniment that I need to make at home. The fries are great, but everyone knows I’m a sucker for fries. Finally, there’s the apple tart for two… If you can tell from the photo it could also be served for four, but it’s the best apple tart I’ve had in NYC regardless of size.

Chicken Wings from Mission Chinese Food NYC. These have to be my favorite chicken wings. In fairness, I’m not a huge fan of traditional, messy, Buffalo-style wings, but still. Not only are the wings fried to perfection, but the fire from the chiles and numbing effect of the Sichuan peppercorns is at once flamboyant and completely balanced in a way that is hard to describe. As an added bonus, they throw in little strips of crispy, salty, delicious fried tripe.

Tuna tacos with mango-habanero salsa at Sueños. These are a current special and every bit as good as they look. They’re even better when washed down with a smoky, Mezcal topped margarita.

Soft scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and trout roe from The Dutch. Usually I go for the lunch-ier items at The Dutch’s brunch (shouldn’t the soft shell crab sandwich be back on the menu soon??), but when I feel like breakfast I always go for their take on the NY classic.

A few beers from Maine Beer Company. Yesterday I was introduced to a brewery that I had never heard of, and it turns out their beers are some of the best I’ve ever tried. Part of me feels like I must’ve been living under a rock, but their beer is truly rare as they are highly focused on things other than marketing and broad distribution. These are fresh, hoppy, balanced, easy to enjoy beers in kind of east (coast) meets west (coast) style. If you see them, buy them—just save some for me!

Pan seared Hudson Valley Duck Farms duck breast with porcini mushroom and broccoli rabe risotto. The duck was seared then roasted with the “EMP spice blend” (Sichuan peppercorns, cumin, coriander, and lavender). For the risotto, I blanched the broccoli rabe in chicken stock while reconstituting the dried porcini, then added some of the porcini-reconstituting water to the stock and used it for the risotto. I finished the risotto by adding back in chopped porcini and broccoli rabe with a little parmesan.

Mazemen and Shoyu Ramen from Yuji Ramen. To me this is sort of crazy—a Kickstarter Campaign helped turn a Williamsburg popup into a ramen bar in a Whole Foods, and it will soon become a full-fledged restaurant. More importantly though, the food is fantastic. 

Yuji offers two basic dishes. Mazemen is essentially a fettuccine shaped ramen noodle served dry with a few options of toppings. Pictured here on the left is basically Sunday breakfast—a poached egg, bacon, and bonito flakes. This is simple but really, really good. The other option is a more traditional Shoyu Ramen that he makes with whatever bones and scraps he can drum up from Whole Foods that day. Today’s offering, pictured here on the right, was a turkey and oxtail broth that he served with some poached whitefish. Hard to say which I liked more.

My only disappointment is that the Whole Foods location will be closing May 12 and the permanent location will be in Williamsburg. Oh well… I guess I know what I’ll be doing for lunch for at least one day a week for the next six weeks.

Homemade cheesesteak. Leftover dry-aged ribeye sliced thin and browned along with caramelized onions and Gruyere.