Here we go again. It’s Sunday morning, so I thought I’d do a nice “easy” posting with a compelling photo. In fact, I was worried – how much can you say (or should you say) about purple cauliflower without being boring? But this blog has a history of being didactic, so leaving this photo to speak for itself was out of the question. Hence, I thought a little bit of research would be appropriate. However, as frequently is the case, I found a world – the world of purple foods and cauliflower in particular, with lots of articles and sites (purplecauliflower.com is registered). I learned that cabbage, brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli, and collard greens are actually all the same species, Brassica Oleracea, but are of different cultivar groups.

The whole concept of cultivars is fascinating and relatively new to me. If you want to delve into this, click here. I am astounded to have found a site which lists 100 varieties of cauliflower! The purple color, by the way, is not dye but rather due to anthocyanins, the largest group of water-soluble pigments in the plant kingdom, and are responsible for the blue, red, and purple color of many fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers, and leaves. In recent years, studies have suggested that anthocyanins serve as valuable diet antioxidants. However, because they are water soluble, I have read of problems cooking and losing the color.

About the photo: I discovered this table of purple cauliflower while strolling through the Union Square Greenmarket with a friend. I had no intention of doing any photography, since I have posted numerous times regarding Union Square: the park itself, the Greenmarket, the Gandhi sculpture, restaurants, and the architecture/buildings in the immediate area. But when we happened upon this display, we were so awed by the color that I felt compelled to shoot and share…

Postings related to Union Square: Heirloom Tomatoes, Republic, Vintage Mural, One-Man Band, Luna Park Cafe, Gentleman Peeler, Flora, Zeckendorf, Reverend Billy, W Hotel, Towers, Metronome, Union Square

Manhattan is an island, yet it’s only recently that the waterfront is really beginning to be developed and utilized. It is surprising, given that space is at such a premium, that this huge asset has languished for so long. Now we have things such as the immensely popular Hudson River Park. There have been some earlier forays into waterfront usage: Bargemusic, South Street Seaport, the Intrepid Museum, the 79th Street Boat Basin, Christopher Street Pier, the New York Kayak Club, Battery Park City & promenade, and Chelsea Piers. Restaurants have also entered the fray, with places like the River Cafe, Hudson River Cafe, Harbour Lights, World Yacht, and the Water Club, shown in today’s photo.

The Water Club is located at East 30th Street in the East River on a moored, renovated barge. In addition to their nautically themed dining room, there is seasonal outdoor dining at the Crow’s Nest, located on the upper deck. Obviously the big draw here are the spectacular vistas from its East River location, with river views from every table. I have not eaten there, however, my understanding is that the food is good, with Kevin Reilly as executive chef. Kevin Reilly (formerly of Union Square Cafe and Zoe) has designed menus for other eating establishments, such as Bamn (click here for a post about this new automat). For more information about menus, etc., click here for their website…

When I stumbled on this place with a friend, we loved the the whole image – a quaint French restaurant in an obscure location under the Brooklyn Bridge and with what we romanticized to be the defiant, cigarette-smoking Frenchman with attitude out in front. We did not eat here, but my reading of reviews and their website this morning tells me that this place could be a real find.

The chef, Ovidiu Pastae, previously owned Au Coin du Feu (by the fireplace) in Vence, France and a SoHo sibling by the same name at 222 Lafayette (now closed). His newest restaurant, Belle de Jour Bistro (Update 1/19/12: Website down), opened in April of 2007. It is named after the 1967 French classic film “Belle de Jour,” directed by Luis Bruneul and starring Catherine Deneuve.

The bistro’s building, located at 259 Front Street in the South Street Seaport area, was a flour mill built in 1809 and designed by Robert Mills, one of the first professional architects in the United States. Working primarily in the Baltimore-Washington area in the neoclassical style, Mills is most well-known for designing the Washington Monument (along with the Department of Treasury and other federal buildings). After locating an article with a photo of Ovidiu (Update 1/19/12: Link no longer works), I am now thinking that the man I caught in my photo may be Ovidiu himself…

Here’s a place steeped in buzz, controversy, stories, and articles. 106 Kenmare was the home of the Corner Deli, a mom-and-pop operation since 1932, set up in a tiny, wedge-shaped diner in a neighborhood now known as NoLita. Click here for a look inside. The place was purchased by partners Serge Becker (Lure Fishbar, Area, B Bar, Joe’s Pub), architect Derek Sanders, Cordell Lochin, and restaurateur James Gersten. It is now home to La Esquina, both a street-level Tacqueria (with a menu developed by Café Habana founder Richard Ampudia) and a restaurant located underground. The restaurant downstairs is where the controversy lies, some even calling the Tacqueria a front for the restaurant. The entrance is a door marked “Employees Only” leading via a convoluted route past a kitchen downstairs to a subterranean dining room with a unique decor (I have not been there).

Bouncers, lists – the scene is reminiscent of the nightclub days of the 1980s with their “exclusive” admittance policies (Studio 54, Mudd Club, et al.). But I am intrigued and will investigate getting into the restaurant. When I first visited the Tacqueria soon after it opened in 2005, the place was insanely packed. Lines and chaos prevailed. Since then, things have calmed down, and getting a meal there is now a much more civilized affair. Our office gets lunch there regularly, and it has become a favorite. You can take out or eat outdoors at the small tables…

The neon signs and large cow mounted prominently over the entrance to the Old Homestead Steakhouse have been an NYC icon for ages. Located at 56 9th Avenue in the meat packing district on a major thoroughfare, most New Yorkers have seen this landmark many times traveling downtown (click here for photo). It is the city’s oldest steakhouse and one of the oldest restaurants, dating back to 1868, with humbler origins as a popular place to eat for workers in the neighboring wholesale meat market.

As you can see from their website and pricing, this is no longer the place for the common worker. The specialty here is Kobe steak, or, more properly, Kobe-style beef. Kobe beef was traditionally raised in the Kobe region of Japan from the Wagyu breed of cattle and is renowned for tenderness and flavor. It has a high degree of fat marbling, enhanced by the traditional secret methods of raising Kobe beef, including beer in the diet and massage. However, nearly all Kobe beef in the United States, known as Kobe-style beef or American Kobe beef, is raised domestically by ranchers who have crossbred Wagyu cattle with Angus cattle. To my understanding, any claims of beer in the diet or massaging cattle in this country is a myth, one that that restaurants do not necessarily try to dispel. In 2003, Old Homestead introduced the first Kobe burgers, which will set you back $41.

Most reports regarding the food seem to be still favorable, always a difficult feat to maintain when a place becomes a legend. Of course, there are naysayers, and the debate goes on regarding NYC’s best steakhouse, with many contenders: Peter Luger, Sparks, Palm, Smith and Wollensky, Keens…