Chef Meals for Kids? Alain Ducasse

People who eat at fine restaurants around the world often want to introduce their children to fine dining early, but don't know how. Famed restauranteur Alain Ducasse has a new cookbook, Cooking for Kids: From Babies to Toddlers: Simple, Healthy and Natural Food, that can help pave the way.

The cookbook emphasizes seasonal ingredients and suggests using only organic produce. Children raised on these recipes, which include a turnip, potato and parsley puree, pumpkin and blue cheese soup and hake with grapefruit and garden peas, are unlikely to be satisfied with children's meals at fast food restaurants.

You can help your children develop a sophisticated palate, and make food that even adults can enjoy, though the squid, cucumber and lime muffins may have lost something in the translation.  Simple dishes like risotto with pumpkin, polenta with zucchini and millet with turnip, zucchini and mint will please any age.

The recipe that really struck me was a simple to make yet rich onion soup, using Melba toast or zwieback. The vegetarian soup was hearty and a huge crowd pleaser.

DUMBO Mexican Food

There is often a bias with ethnic food, that it should be cheap. Chinese, Thai and Mexican food – we shouldn’t have to pay a lot.

But there are exceptions. Gran Electrica, in DUMBO, is a hip, perennially packed restaurant where the food is thoughtfully composed and drinks hand crafted. So yes, the bill can be high, especially if you start with the yummy guacamole.

The guac, chunky and served with 4 salsas of varying heat, was accompanied by crisp, greaseless chips. Certainly delicious. But a bit steep at $13.

Margaritas come with a variety of fresh juices and bitters. There is one with fresh cucumber juice and cilantro, and a spicy one with habañero, jalapeño and grapefruit.

Tacos come in 2 vegetarian versions: one with butternut squash, parsnips and almonds, and fish with cabbage and avocado. Both are delicious.

We also loved the cheesy quesadillas with oyster mushrooms and epazote. The menu has medium and large plates, but we just added sides of rice, fried plantians and beans with avocado (each $5). We have to return for the snapper ceviche, with pomegranate and the crab tostada.

Home James

If you’ve lived in a neighborhood for years, you remember the history of its real estate. You may buy your artisanal cheese from a storefront that once sold cell
phones, or buy designer clothing from a spot that once housed a check cashing place.

So it is with the restaurant James, where a bodega once offered convenience for Prospect Heights, Brooklyn residents. Our friends, who lived around the corner, remember buying milk and cigarettes here.

But the gleaming bar, dark wood and reclaimed tin ceiling speak to a different era, one more likely to drink the gin cocktail (with bits of ice, St. Germain, lemon juice and fresh mint) than beer from a paper bag.

ames has a super Sunday Supper deal: appetizer, main course and dessert, for $30. Choices are limited, but twice when I’ve been there, both appetizers and both main courses were vegetarian. You can also order off the regular menu, but it’s nice when vegetarians aren’t marginalized.

Well, ok, we can’t go there on burger night. But any other night is vegetarian-friendly – perfectly composed salads, soups like the parsnip soup topped with Brussels sprouts. Simply divine.

The risotto with wild mushrooms had a hint of truffle oil and was studded with meaty fungi. Buttery skate over broccoli and arctic char over beets elevated the humble vegetables accompanying the fish.

I can’t wait to go back.