In the beginning....

noon
So I must start my blog with a sincere salute to Julie Powell, whose book I just re-read after seeing the movie , "Julie/Julia", for inspiring us who live in Queens to make our foodie voices heard through the din of Brooklyn and Manhattan fork clashing....
I lift my fork and cabernet stained wine glass in reverance....

plus after returning from my now classic vacation trip with my husband which has of late consisted of traveling to some romantic wine country and plying our mouths with wine and food and good old fashioned decadence punctuated by a few well thought out verbal and occasional written reviews of the places we have tried, I began to ponder if I could make my life long fantasy of being a food writer come true ...instead of just sitting on the subway wishing that I might someday bump into some drunk or pitying food god at NY times or Gourmet who would offer to PAY ME to eat food, travel and let people in on my food and drinking forrays...I mean how exactly does one get these gigs and what are the qualifications necessary..if anyone reading knows the secret ways to enter into this mysterious society, give Rosie a hand....

so my humble venture is to review with lyrical prose a new (to me) NYC restaurant a week...the good , the bad and the ugly hoping to experiance along the way some of the best food the world has to offer...I must warn you- I have deep propensity for poetry..and if the food inspires me I may be forced to break out some poetic beats...or if it doesn't a few choice expletives may have to be tossed in...

In case you were wondering,
1. I will likely focus on Brooklyn and Queens because thats where I tend to hang but will
be checking out Manhattan as well
2. I will be reviewing service, ambiance, and of course food presentation and taste..costs for what you are getting will be factored in as well.... I love a good bargain but am willing to pay for excellence

a.Disclaimer 1 is that I am heavily influenced by service....so if the food is pretty good but the service sucks odds are I will never go back to a place again nor recommend anyone else to go ...I just can't rationalize in a city with so many great restaurants to choose from supporting with my money a place that doesn't know how to treat customers...especially when its a high end place.. just to let you know how serious I am about this , there are several NYC restuarants that I have self boycotted because of inferior service....my poor hubbie laments I don't give people the option of a bad day...but hey I am in a service industry too (healthcare)..and if you can't do service well get another JOB.... my boycott list is about 10 places long which I think is pretty good considering the number of food places NYC has to offer...

b.Disclaimer 2 is that since I love to cook and am by my own estimation and those who eat my food ,a damn good cook, I have unfortunately tasted only one restaurant meal in my life that brought me closer to heaven ...maybe my food standards are crazy high.....I think I can be satisfied, just not very easily....But oh how I dream of the day....

c.Disclaimer 3 is I tend to like funky cool but not crazy trendy....as a general rule if I have to wait more than 2 weeks to get into a place, no reviews for them...thats just annoying and pretentious... plus I am afraid of the damage I could inflict if after having waited that time to go to a place and paying some fantastic amount of money I was disappointed...Hurricaine Rosie leaves real signs of destruction....while of the big three ambiance,unless it is a hole in the wall and charging ridiculous amounts, is the least important to me ,I will be noting it mainly in recommending what the restaurant would be great for(romantic date, business meal, groups)..in other words this will rarely be a negative for a place unless it is truly substandard

3. This is volunteer work i.e . I am not getting paid for these reviews so the pricepoint of most of the places will be maxing out at the 30 dollar range for entrees unless there is a prix fixe or special event excuse to go there..obviously that means that my average review will not be Per Se or Le Bernardin..more like The Good Fork ( Brooklyn) or Sorella (LES)...My personal motto is to try everything in a place so I will usually be doing a three course meal with wine.... because my friends what is the point of a good meal if it isn't washed down with equally good wine...

Ok so tonight will be my first review..have yet to decide where we are going....likely Brooklyn ..so much buzz about so many dang places there... James..Good Fork...Walter Foods...my stomach is rumbling..time to forage for lunch...