I met a handsome chum for drinks downtown at Terroir. When he told me the name of the place, it sounded vaguely familiar, and then I remembered it's a spot owned by a chef I've seen frequently on tv. I'll be honest - that chef was kind of a jerk on the first tv show, but he has since grown on me. A little. However, after eating his food, I'm tempted to forgive him all.
Terroir is a wine bar with small plates - we went during happy hour, so there were some discounts available. The bartender let us try each of the five red wines available at the happy hour price - the progression of them was very interesting, from maybe the softest to the harshest. After I tried the first wine, I didn't think I'd choose it, but then I did. And I was very happy with it. I got the Negrette, vinum. It was very nice. We also tried quite a few plates of food, since some of it was offered at happy hour prices.
We got the funky beef balls, lamb sausage with sage, whipped lardo, some prosciutto and a blue cheese made from buffalo milk. We also had apple cider doughnuts. Because, hello, when apple cider doughnuts are on the menu, you have to order them. It's a rule. For some unknown reason, the only good photo from that night that I can find is of the doughnuts. Huh. Anyway. Everything at Terroir was seriously and monumentally yummy. Perfectly seasoned and just the right size portions. I would highly recommend Terroir and I plan on going back soon - they have a white wine from Italy that I had when I was in Sorrento and rarely see here in the States. Looking forward to it. 
A couple of weeks ago, it was gloriously sunny on the weekend, so I went wandering around my neighborhood. I saw a new restaurant nearby - The Bao Shoppe. Being a fan of bao, I stopped in to give it a try. I thought I'd play it safe the first time out, so I got the Colonel Bao, which is fried chicken with slaw and a pickle. I also took a little container of BBQ sauce with me. Good golly, miss molly, it was DELICIOUS! The bread was pillowy, the chicken crispy and the pickle was incredible. I'll admit to taking most of the slaw off the sandwich (I'm not a huge fan of globby, mayo-y slaw), but the cabbage seems nice and crunchy. I can't really describe the BBQ sauce - it was slightly sweet, slightly smoky, and just a touch bitter. There were a lot of flavors going on, which I loved. I will definitely be going back to The Bao Shoppe in the near future (hey, I wonder how late they're open tonight)... 
I decided to take myself out for Easter dinner - we always used to go out to eat when I lived in Ohio, so it's a nice tradition. I looked around the Open Table website to see what I could find in Astoria. After looking at some restaurant websites, I settled on Psari, a Greek/seafood restaurant over by Kaufman Astoria Studios. The website looked rather fancy, so I deigned to not wear jeans for once. After a lovely stroll on a pleasant sunny Easter afternoon, I arrived at Psari, which isn't quite as fancy as its website. It's very nice, don't get me wrong. It's more a neighborhood place than an elegant restaurant. But whatever. They were packed, which is generally a reliable sign that the food is good.
I sat at a window table up front and ordered a glass of Boutari Moschofilero from Greece, and an appetizer of tzatsiki. The server also brought me a nice basket of bread, which I discovered was garlic bread! What a nice touch! So when I ran out of pita to eat with my gorgeously lemony tzatsiki, I could use garlic bread to finish it off. I had a lot of bread (no wonder I was so full when I got home). 
For my entree, I got the grilled salmon with lemon potatoes. This was also very delicious and the portion was enormous (especially after eating so much bread)! I was very happy to take half of it home with me for a later meal. I might have lingered a little longer over a second glass of wine, but may I just say that the toddler at the table next to me was having diaper issues, but the parents were a little too inebriated to notice and the aroma was not conducive to eating more food. Polite enough for you? ;) I'll definitely want to go back to Psari and try some other things (and hopefully that smelly toddler won't be there) - even though the walk was a little longer than I expected, the restaurant was nice enough to warrant a return. Of course, I should just keep trying new places - new food is fun food! At least most of the time... 
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