Enjoy extras at Esca from a chef who has 'a gold mine in the basement'

Edible 21-karat gold leaf crowning Goat Milk Gelato with Lime Spuma and Watermelon Granita, a dessert that was on the Restaurant Week menu at Esca, one of Manhattan's top seafood restaurants.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Esca is always my first pick when Manhattan's Restaurant Week promotion comes around.

The Southern Italian seafood restaurant doesn't stint on the complimentary extras, even when offering a three-course lunch for $29, plus tax and tip -- about half of what you'd pay if you ordered a la carte.

After we placed our order from the limited Summer Restaurant Week menu on Thursday, we received a pair of delicious Bruschetta with white beans and preserved mackerel.

Then, we were brought a small bowl of olives, and offered three kinds of bread. When I asked for extra-virgin olive oil for the bread, the server poured a generous amount in a small plate. 

I splurged on a 2-ounce tasting of three wines -- one with each course -- for an extra $17.

My wife's first course on Thursday was this wonderful Zuppa di Pesce Amalfitana, a fish-filled soup surrounding a tomato-and-chili bruschetta; I had Calamari, below. 

For my starter, char-grilled local squid was served with radishes, hot red pepper, lemon and parsley.

 Go fish

Our entrees were Lanzardo,  a whole grilled Boston Mackerel with Salsa Verde; and Lampuga alla Siciliana, grilled Sicilian Style Mahi-Mahi with Marinated Summer Beans and Toasted Sunflower Seeds.

I tasted both, and each fish was perfectly grilled with a nice char. My only complaint is that my meaty mahi-mahi could have used a little salt.

I envied a woman at the next table who ordered the third entree on the menu, Conchiglie, a generous serving of House-Made Shells with Mussels, Clams, Conch, Cherry Tomatoes and Smoked Chilis.

Complimentary Bruschetta with preserved mackerel, above, and olives, below.

I was lucky to get the heel of a large loaf of bread with a crust that was so crispy it shattered, plus delicious extra-virgin olive oil for dipping. The great service included cleaning bread crumbs and crust off of the table between courses.

Sicilian Style Mahi-Mahi.

Boston Mackerel with Salsa Verde.

Golden finish

We usually never order dessert, but on Thursday, we decided to try two Watermelon Granita with Goat Milk Gelato and Lime Spuma, and were rewarded with a piece of edible 21-karat gold leaf crowning the ice cream.

I asked one of the maitre d's circulating in the dining room whether we were, in fact, eating real gold.

He said yes, and to be considered edible, the gold has to be a minimum of 21 karats (24 karats is pure gold).

Then, he got a good laugh out of us when he said: 

"The chef has a gold mine in the basement."

The way I see it, Chef Dave Pasternack's gold mine at Esca is in the dining rooms and bar, though probably not if you order the price-fixed Restaurant Week menu.

The entrance to the main dining room at Esca, 402 W. 43rd St., near Ninth Avenue, New York, N.Y.; 1-212-564-7272.

Details

NYC Restaurant Week runs through Aug. 19, offering a three-course lunch for $29 and a three-course dinner for $42, plus tax and tip, at hundreds of restaurants in Manhattan ($4 more than during the promotion in January). Reservations are recommended.

During the Restaurant Week promotion, you can get $5 back, if you use an enrolled American Express credit card and spend more than $35 in a single transaction, up to four times.

Websites: 

Seafood trattoria

Summer Restaurant Weeks

Spend $35, get $5 back

At Costco, should you go for fresh or frozen from the deep sea?

I poached fresh, wild-caught Icelandic haddock fillets from Costco Wholesale in Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market in under 10 minutes. 

Editor's note: With only a couple of exceptions, I prefer fresh, wild-caught fish fillets from Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When I felt like fresh fish for dinner on Monday, I drove a couple of miles to Costco Wholesale in Hackensack at a little after 3 in the afternoon.

The warehouse store offers a large variety of seafood from all over the world -- fresh, frozen, wild and farmed.

As usual, I found fresh, wild-caught fillets of cod, haddock and flounder for as little as $7.99 a pound, and chose a 1.6-pound of package of flaky haddock from Iceland ($8.99 a pound).

I knew I had a 16-ounce bottle of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market and fresh limes at home, all I would need to poach the haddock, which I cut into serving pieces and sprinkled with Aleppo pepper.

Less than 10 minutes after the salsa and fresh lime juice came to a boil in a covered pan, I was spooning two portions of fish over leftover organic brown rice.

I actually cooked my haddock for only 5 minutes, and it continued cooking after I turned off the fire.

A glass of red wine and a triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix Salad ($4.89 a pound) completed the meal.

Previously frozen lobster tails at Costco Wholesale are $21 a pound. The label describes them as "warm water" lobster, but the use of a preservative is a real turn-off, and I've never purchased them. Where are they from? The label doesn't say. See a comment at the end of the post for information on the origin of these lobster tails.

Boxes holding 10 pounds of frozen Red King Crab.

The label doesn't say where these cooked legs and claws come from, though we bought loose king crab legs from Costco's Seafood Road Show for our Christmas dinner, and I assumed they were from Alaska.

At the Hackensack warehouse store, previously frozen whole wild octopus from the Philippines, left, and frozen calamari tubes.

Frozen or previously frozen?

Costco's Seafood Road Show ended a long holiday run in Hackensack today, and we liked the loose frozen King Crab legs we bought for our Christmas dinner ($17.99 a pound).

We steamed the fully cooked legs for Christmas, and made a salad with the leftovers with diced celery, onion and sweet pepper, dressed with Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice.

We also like previously frozen Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, which shot up to $18.89 a pound last May.

Recently, the price of 1 pound of the sliced salmon went down to $15.99, compared to $15.59 in May 2013.

We've also enjoyed frozen hake and wild sockeye salmon fillets.

But we avoid most of the frozen shellfish Costco sells, as well as the previously frozen farmed Black Tiger Shrimp from Vietnam.

We also are no fans of fresh farmed fish -- from the huge fillets of artificially colored salmon and steel-head trout to the tilapia.

15 humans land bountiful Feast of the Seven Fishes

Monkfish fillets plumping up in tomato puree with garlic, onion, green olives, capers, parsley and basil. In Italian, the dish is called Squadro alla Matalotta.

Editor's note: Chef Central closed in January 2017, but I really enjoyed this night of cooking and eating.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Under the guidance of three chefs on Monday night, a dozen food enthusiasts prepared and then stuffed themselves with the traditional Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes.

You don't have to be Italian to enjoy this seafood bounty, which included lobster, monkfish, crab, shrimp, mussels, squid and anchovies.

Festa dei Sette Pesci is associated with everything from the seven days it took to create the universe to the seven utterances that Christ made while on the cross to the seven hills of Rome.

We gathered at 6 p.m. in the kitchen at Chef Central in Paramus for a hands-on cooking demonstration and -- after measuring, chopping, marinating and cooking -- sat down more than two hours later to wolf down our food.

Apple-Smoked Prawns with Sauce Remoulade.

Monkfish with two other dishes, Steamed Mussels Marinara and Linguine with Crab in Tomato Tarragon Cream Sauce.

Teams of amateurs

The 12 people who paid $95 each for the hands-on workshop were split up into three teams, each assigned to a chef.

We'd get a recipe and work from the top down or the bottom up, measuring and assembling ingredients in plastic cups on a tray.

In the process, we learned valuable techniques from professionals, including the fundamental of washing our hands thoroughly before we handled uncooked food. 

Preparation and cooking of the seven dishes was timed beautifully, allowing us to dish from pots and pans, eat to our hearts' content and pack up leftovers.

I'll eat my leftovers for dinner tonight.

Calamari Piccanti or spicy squid marinated for about an hour in olive oil, salt and red-pepper flakes and was cooked briefly, yielding unusually tender rings and tentacles.

Sfincione, a style of pizza from Palermo, was covered in chopped anchovies, red onions, toasted bread crumbs, Pecorino Romano Cheese and pizza sauce.

In Italy, Linguine con Grachi in Salsa Speciale or Linguine with Crab in Tomato Tarragon Cream Sauce would be eaten covered with bread crumbs, not shredded cheese, but that's how I wanted my portion.

Lobster is tops

My favorite dishes were Arragosta Arrosto con la Senape e l'Origano or Baked Lobster with Mustard and Oregano, a dish with an assertive flavor; the spicy calamari and the wonderful monkfish fillets. 

The unusual pizza was tasty, but much too filling.

The baked lobster tails were covered with fresh parsley and oregano, and dressed in a sauce of extra-virgin olive oil, butter and Dijon mustard, above and below.

Minor complaints

I would have been very happy without the butter and cream used in a few of the recipes, as well as the remoulade sauce, and was disappointed in the bland conventional linguine.

A better choice would have been organic whole-wheat linguine from Whole Foods Market, which sponsored the workshop and gave each participant a reusable bag for seafood and a coupon.

Another minor annoyance were the flimsy plastic plates and plastic implements we were given to eat with.

Update

My wife enjoyed the leftover pizza, pasta and a couple of smoked shrimp.

I gently reheated the calamari, mussels and monkfish with its green-olive sauce, and they made a delicious dinner that ended with an organic spring mix salad, which I missed at the workshop the night before. 

Chef Jim Edwards in Chef Central's professional kitchen.

A tray of sauces, fresh herbs and other ingredients.

We had to wear an anti-cut glove when using a knife.

The crab sauce for the linguine contained heavy cream.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes workshop is being given again at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Chef Central, 240 Route 17 north, Paramus; 201-576-0100. Reservations are necessary. Cost: $95.