Eric and I usually go out to dinner for NYE and this year wasn't any different. We ended up going to Fond - a BYO on Passyunk that is probably one of my favorite restaurants in the city. I'll go into more detail about the food in a bit. Since our reservation wasn't until 930, I had everyone that was going to dinner with us (there were 10 of us) over for some predinner drinks. It gave me a good excuse to break out my vintage champagne coupes.
We had some snacks and drank some champagne, Lillet and Karen made sidecars which were delicious (and very strong). This is the recipe she used:
1 1/2 oz brandy
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz lemon juice, strained of seeds
Combine ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. If you want to get fancy, take a lemon slice and run it around the rim of your glass then dip in sugar.
Okay, so now onto Fond. I've eaten there about 3 times now and everything I've had has been amazing. Their website says that the food is "contemporary American" but it's definitely French influenced (I think the chef previously worked at Le Bec Fin). For NYE, they had a prixe fixe 3-course menu and I was really hoping that pork belly would be an entree option and it was!!! They have the best pork belly I've ever had. It's so crispy and fatty and meaty. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. So, of course I decided on the pork belly for my entree:
For my appetizer, I had the tuna tartare:
It was very very good. But I liked Eric's appetizer even more:
He got the gnocchi with wild boar ragu. Gnocchi isn't my favorite thing to eat as a meal, but I think it makes a great appetizer. And it's amazing with the boar. Oh - and I have to mention the amuse bouche (I love that phrase) that we had before our apps. We were served butternut squash soup shooters. So good.
Dessert was a raspberry marscarpone layer cake:
I was stuffed by the time this course rolled around so Eric ate most of it, but what I had was yummy. Except for the lime sorbet that came with it - it was too tart for me.
We were still at the restaurant when it turned 12, so they served us a glass of champagne as well as homemade sambuca. A great way to finish off a meal!
After a very satisfying meal and several glasses of wine and champagne, I was very happy, very full and very tired:
I have no recollection of Eric taking this photo of me when we got back to my house. It was a great night:)
6 comments:
Fond was so delicious! And it seemed like there were so many free perks - the soup and the chocolate truffles and the homemade sambuca and the champagne at midnight. They must have liked us, too. (Or were just feeling celebratory...)
Oh, and for the sidecars, I used a 1: 1: 1 proportion for the cognac: Cointreau: lemon juice - although what you said is the traditional recipe.
wow, you used less alcohol and it was still really strong! not sure if i could handle the traditional recipe...
Thanks for sharing the drink recipe. I will definitely try it. I love the picture of you sleeping, very Carrie in Paris (SATC).
:), luckynumber3.com
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Sidecars are delicious!
Love that last photo of you. There's just something glamorous about falling asleep in a gorgeous frilly party dress.
I had a ton of fun on New Year's Eve this year Sary. Dinner was absolutely delicious, thank you so much for inviting us! The Lillet was fantastic, as were the bacon-wrapped dates.
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