@VestaVino for our last meal in NYC.

Last year, I deemed Vesta as one of our best meals in 2011. Not much has changed. It is still top notch, super filling, and what I consider to be some of the best Italian cooking.

1+2 Their seasonal menu by candlelight and hearty bread with oil that practically disappeared as soon as it arrived.
3+4 Seth pouring a carafe of Vesta's very own wine on tap + me patiently waiting for my glass to be filled.
5 Fresh mozzarella with arugula + crostinis.
6 Slow braised meatballs with parmigiano, + tomato sauce ($12).
7 Arugula salad with shaved carrots, walnuts, + oranges topped with maple yogurt ($10).
8 Roasted Brussels sprouts with parmigiano ($6).
9 A six hour, Sunday dinner style meat ragu lasagna ($15).
10+11 Perfection in a rectangle or La Torta Del Piccolo Bambino Gesu Cristo or The Baby Jesus Cake + the most delicious and delicate pumpkin cheesecake.

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Christmas Wrapping.

One tree ($50 from Moore Trees), five sets of 100 mini white lights ($4.50 each) + how many ever ornaments later — it feels like Christmas time again in our home.

<p>Merry Christmas 2012 from Justine B. on Vimeo.</p>

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The best Black Friday deal.

A big glass bowl of mish mosh for $10 from The Bagel. Well, actually it is available every day at this price.

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Bulot at L'Ecume Saint-Honoré in Paris.

L'Ecume Saint-Honoré en Paris looks like this. Only, image you listening to seagulls singing on repeat over the speakers as you sit and eat your oysters and bulot (40€). Call them sea snails/whelks/bulots — they are not something I can easily eat. You pull the snail out of its shell and then proceed to dip it into garlic mayonnaise. Voila.

The silver bucket next to the bottle of Muscadet (22€) is to discard your finished shells. After a plate of pretty delicious oysters, Seth was feeling more adventurous and decided that buying a sea urchin (7€) was a good thing to do. He tried it and seemed to feel indifferently about that orange mush that you eat inside.

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L'Avant Comptoir en Saint-Michel/Odéon, Paris (food pics).

Directly next to Le Comptoir is L'Avant Comptoir — its sister restaurant/standing room only wine bar with hors d'oeuvres. Essentially, it's a tapas restaurant that serves French bistro cuisine. Two bottles of excellent red wine and 13 tapas plates later, we spent 167€ for four of us to dine here. Needless to say, we all left extremely full.

The chef who created these restaurants is Yves Camdeborde.

He is a judge on the French television show Master Chef, which is essentially the equivalent to our Top Chef.

1-8 Exiting the Metro at Odéon; outside of the restaurant, the menu; employee + chalkboard menu; the graffiti wall; wine glasses; and a bottle of Le Gravot.
9 Carpaccio de rosbif/Roast beef carpaccio(6 euro)
10 Croque d'effilochee de queue de boeuf/Oxtail sandwich(3 euro)
11 Macaron de boudin noir bearnais/Blood sausage in a macaroon (3.50 euro)
12 Sea scallop in its shell (I lost track of how much things cost after this.)
13 Seared tuna with foam
14 Prosciutto, salumi, and sopressata plate
15 Gaufres artichaut jambon/Waffle with artichoke and ham — the best stuff on this planet.
16 Gelée de chair de tourteau, pomme, avocat, céleri/Crab spread with avocado and celery
17 Taxidermy pig's head
18 Andouillette oeufs de hareng/Andouille with herring eggs
19 "Bird's tongue"/Orzo soup
20 The menu on the ceiling
21 Tarte tropézienne/Cake with custard
22 Riz au lait caramel/Caramel rice pudding
23 La mousse au chocolat/Chocolate mousse
24 The entrance

L'Avant Comptoir is located at 9 Carrefour de l’Odeon in the 6th arrondissement. Telephone +33 144 27 07 97

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Posted via email from Consumed with Discretion

L'Avant Comptoir en Saint-Michel/Odéon, Paris (food pics).

Directly next to Le Comptoir is L'Avant Comptoir — its sister restaurant/standing room only wine bar with hors d'oeuvres. Essentially, it's a tapas restaurant that serves French bistro cuisine. Two bottles of excellent red wine and 13 tapas plates later, we spent 167€ for four of us to dine here. Needless to say, we all left extremely full.

The chef who created these restaurants is Yves Camdeborde.

He is a judge on the French television show Master Chef, which is essentially the equivalent to our Top Chef.

1-8 Exiting the Metro at Odéon; outside of the restaurant, the menu; employee + chalkboard menu; the graffiti wall; wine glasses; and a bottle of Le Gravot.
9 Carpaccio de rosbif/Roast beef carpaccio(6 euro)
10 Croque d'effilochee de queue de boeuf/Oxtail sandwich(3 euro)
11 Macaron de boudin noir bearnais/Blood sausage in a macaroon (3.50 euro)
12 Sea scallop in its shell (I lost track of how much things cost after this.)
13 Seared tuna with foam
14 Prosciutto, salumi, and sopressata plate
15 Gaufres artichaut jambon/Waffle with artichoke and ham — the best stuff on this planet.
16 Gelée de chair de tourteau, pomme, avocat, céleri/Crab spread with avocado and celery
17 Taxidermy pig's head
18 Andouillette oeufs de hareng/Andouille with herring eggs
19 "Bird's tongue"/Orzo soup
20 The menu on the ceiling
21 Tarte tropézienne/Cake with custard
22 Riz au lait caramel/Caramel rice pudding
23 La mousse au chocolat/Chocolate mousse
24 The entrance

L'Avant Comptoir is located at 9 Carrefour de l’Odeon in the 6th arrondissement. Telephone +33 144 27 07 97

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from Consumed with Discretion