I'd been wanting to try Balaboosta since it opened last year and just never made it. Balaboosta is Einat Admony of Taim falafel joint's larger Middle Eastern / Israeli casual resto and seeing as I love Middle Eastern food, I thought great, this place will be for me!
Walking into the restaurant, one is greeted with a rustic, warm, and friendly small space, packed pretty full in the middle of the week. The menu is a mixture of small plates, appetizers, and entrees with Admony's twist on classic Middle Eastern dishes. What did we all order? Not much cheese but I will share some of the meal.
Crispy cauliflower with currants and pine nuts which was savory, distinct, and satisfying. The cauliflower seemed to have been roasted and sauteed with EVOO and balsamic vinegar giving the exterior a nice toasted crunch and the interior a nice luscious vegetal melt in your mouth feel. Not your average cauliflower small plate but boy was it a delight. Made me want to go out and buy some cauliflower to try to replicate it.
Next up was Dave's Grilled Pizza topped with carrot puree, caramelized onions, goat's cheese, and cilantro. The crust was the wrong sort of consistency for a flat bread pizza and the topping underwhelmed, it felt like carrot puree on top of cardboard with insufficient seasoning.
We also had their smoked eggplant bruschetta with an herb and citrus salad. This was not a success either, the eggplant flavor was masked by the salad and there was no sense of it having been smoked. It felt as though there were too many ingredients combined without a sense of harmony and the bread that they were served on was not the right vehicle for the salad either.
There were a few other items ordered at the table as well but none, except for the cauliflower were a huge success, they had the glimmers of hope of being great but fell unfortunately quite flat. The atmosphere was a lot of fun and their rose sangria was delish, but I'm not sure I need to go back. I'm glad I went once and will always love Taim but I don't feel like Balaboosta has itself figured out yet.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the opening for David LaChapelle's newest installation at Lever House which was just the right sort of Thursday evening people watching -- art world bigwigs, infamous names, dealers, finance types, and those just coming for a free glass of wine on Park Avenue. At the beginning of the event, they had small hors d'oeuvres passed by Casa Lever -- a mixture of vegetarian and meat options. Although it was very straightforward, the fresh classic pairing of a sliced cigelini with basil and cherry tomato on a spork was a satisfying delight paired with a glass of Prosecco. Sometimes something simple is perfect, especially when the art and the crowd added the right amount of spice and sizzle to the evening.
Have a lovely weekend folks!
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