YUM!!!... A little Christmas treat for myself....

Okay, Darlings! Many of you know that one of my favorite things to do is grab a nice little brunch or lunch in a cozy place with the latest issue of my beloved New Yorker magazine as my only companion. It's the height of luxury to me to sit in the window of a charming establishment glancing out the window as the world rushes by, and eat delicious food while Adam, Henrik, Rebecca, Peter, Alex, Joan, Hilton, Jill, Nicholas, Anthony, Emily, Ian, and a host of other fascinating folk all harangue, seduce, or beguile me... Well, after shopping for presents for my staff and the assorted eccentrics that are the mainstay of my life, I decided to go to my favorite little restaurant in Greenwich Village, and it happens to be a block from where I live; The Quarter, 522 Hudson Street on the corner of West 10th. I've decided that whenever I go there, I just tell my friend and chef extraordinaire Jason Avery to make me whatever he wants to...and it is a wise decision. Today, he surprised me with an "apéritif suprême"!! On a large bed of cracked ice and seaweed, he served up the most succulent blue-point oysters in the shell with crudo of fresh salmon topped with a ginger emulsion of corn, cilantro, and lime. The lady sitting next to me stared in amazement and asked if they were raw oysters...I said Yes, of course. She claimed she'd never eaten a raw oyster and thought they might be awful... I offered her one, and, like Auntie Mame who I am always being mistaken for, I encouraged her "to try something new!". Well, she did... and was absolutely converted! Jason's version of the dish is so rich and yet refreshing, that I'll bet not even a die-hard shell-fish-sissy can resist them! Today, they were like dessert!....BEFORE the entrée!... And as to the entrée, Jason made one of his very favorite dishes dating back to his days at Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island... An elegant but still generous N.Y. strip steak, very rare, served with a sumptuous au poivre sauce that was then topped by the best and brightest sauce béarnaise I've ever tasted. Béarnaise is a "daughter" of Hollandise, one of the proverbial "5 mother sauces'' that chefs have revered since the 19th century, and Avery does Collinet, its creator, proud!!  The luscious brown heft of the au poivre was lifted right up into the air by the light creamy smoothness of his shallots, chervil, and taragon! And on the side was an order of the extra crispy "house-cut" fries, and an order of the whipped-into-a-cloud sweet potatoes marbled with NY State goat cheese! Really!! Should a meal be one "dessert treat" after another? Let Jason work his culinary magic on broccoli, spinach, and other child-offending vegetables, and I swear we'll have a whole generation of children addicted to eating healthy!!! Are Bill de Blasio and the Board of Ed. listening?? I would have called for a stretcher to wheel me out, but Jason and his partner TJ insisted on finishing my pancreas off once and for all......  so, dessert ( yes! The ACTUAL DESSERT, thank you!) was Jason's famous Chocolate Crème Brûlée. No!...there's nothing to say. You can just imagine how fabulous it was! ..or you can go to The Quarter yourself, and see!! And then you can thank me with fine jewelry!...Sybil Sez! http://thequarternyc.com/ 

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