Casual Comfort

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Harlan opened up his Harlan Goldstein's Comfort some time ago, and I've been seeing lots of people post pics over the last couple of months.  Tonight I finally had a chance to check it out for myself, but I needed a couple of accomplices.  No Fork Use had to fly airplane at the last minute because of work, so it was just My Favorite Birdbrain Useless Cousin who kept me company tonight.

My Useless Cousin arrived first, and it didn't take long for her to figure out a few things she wanted.  I decided to just order one starter, so that we wouldn't end up over-ordering.  Turns out we still had too much food for someone...

Japanese wagyu beef croquettes - these big boys were yummy!

What's not to like about tender minced beef, wrapped in a layer of mashed potatoes and then deep-fried?

Bitterballen, crispy beef balls and mustard - yup, more deep-fried balls... But I wanted to try these out since I've never had bitterballen before.

Well, I was kinda thinking there would be a little more beef... but maybe that's not the point here.  I was also surprised to find these very heavily seasoned and salty.  Maybe that's the way it's meant to be, as it is typically served with drinks.  A little too much for me, though...

We waited a while before our next food item came, and to our surprise it was our main course, not the third starter.

Slow cooked Spanish Duroc pork ribs - these were DAMN GOOD!  Soo tender, soo juicy... and flavored by all that fatty goodness... This is what people mean when they say that the meat is "falling off the bone", because it literally did!

I had two of them ribs and stopped.  My Useless Cousin then declared herself to be full after one rib.  She tried to get me to eat rib number 3, but I wasn't about to.  She claimed there was only enough room in her stomach for either this rib or our missing starter...

Bao bao with "melt in your mouth" pork belly, hoisin glaze - I dunno why these Taiwanese-style gua bao (割包) are suddenly popping up in Hong Kong, and basically marketed as "Chinese hamburgers"...  They've been around forever...  Anyway, this was pretty good.  Instead of preserved leafy mustard (酸菜), Harlan uses pickled carrots and cucumbers to cut down the fat of the pork belly.  Gone and inhaled in a hurry.

At this point, I decided to demote My Favorite Cousin to My Useless Cousin.  Instead of finishing off the pork ribs that she ordered, she decided to pack the rib home - her excuse?  She would give it to her dog Wolfie.  Guess what she did next?  SHE ORDERED DESSERT!  And her comes that cliché of "Oh, but it's a different stomach..."  Very well, from now on I will refer to My Useless Cousin as a cow, since no human has more than one stomach...

We took it easy on the wine tonight, since there were only two of us...

2004 Ponsot Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Charmes - minty, pretty fruity and nice.  A little bit of forest, mushroom, a little savory black olive, and a little leathery.  Tannins very noticeable especially on the finish, and acidity as well.

Lots more on the menu that I want to try, but there were only two stomachs tonight - despite claims otherwise.  Gotta come back for more, then...

P.S.  My Useless Cousin did feed the leftover pork rib to Wolfie, who reported wolfed it down so quickly that no picture could have been taken for evidence...