testing testing: the sigma, at aldea

i recently invested in new lens on the advice of one of my cousins, who's an amazing photographer. i expressed to him that i was having a problem getting great, indoor photos of people without a flash, on a consistent basis (a lot of "blur," which i like sometimes, but didn't always want). he gave me a few ideas, i chose a sigma 50 mm F1.4 ex.

first use: a gelf magazine event. i started to miss the zoom on my other lens. i was happy enough with the photos, though, and was glad i didn't need a flash.

second time around: i took some headshots for a friend--and my cousin was right. the lens is much faster and the portraits looked good. in that particular session, there were very few shots that were not crisp. but again, i was missing the zoom...

third time, the real charm? i took the lens with me to dinner at aldea. and i started to discover the limits to its use. the camera actually wouldn't take a lot of shots that i wanted. and several that i did manage to take were blurred. below are the better ones of the bunch. if i took a little more time, these might have been better, but, at some point we needed to dive in to the meal...

but these aren't really the quality that i was hoping for..clearly, i have a some things to figure out with this lens..what it can do, when i should use it best...

sea urchin toast, with cauliflower cream, sea lettuce, and lime

lightly cured spanish mackerel, with meyer lemon, almond milk and crunchy soy

sea salted chatham cod, with market cranberry and fava beans, lemon basil mussel broth.

(not pictured, because i couldn't manage a good shot: arroz de pato: duck confit, chorizo, olives, and duck cracklings)

caramelized brioche, with blood orange gel, creme fraiche pink peppercorn ice cream

lens issues aside, the dinner at aldea was elegant.

this is my iberian summer--i've had a season full of good food, but dinner here, and at txikito on 9th avenue, were the meals i craved. (i have been longing for a seaside vacation?) txikito stands out as distinctively iberian--a marriage of the simple, quintessential spanish flavors: smoky, cured meats paired with sea salty cod and anchovy. their portions are smaller, but they are richer and heartier (quail eggs..chorizo hash sandwiches...croquettes).

aldea takes the same flavors, but presents them with a far lighter touch. the result is cuisine that is less distinct to a region (asian notes in the sea urchin toast, the lightly cured mackerel, and the caramelized lychee), but meals that reflect strong french tradition and technique and a modern, green-market sensibility. to wit: meyer lemon, coriander yogurt, green garlic, crunchy soy, cauliflower cream, creme fraiche pink peppercorn ice cream...

my lovely friend allison (one of my favorite dinner companions: we have the same sense of adventure, the same approach to the menu. she arrives to our meals very well-schooled-- i can rely on her to remember critic's picks and pans. but we regard everything before, during, and after the meal...and she lets me take photos) had her first taste of sea urchin (liked it!) and we had the requisite "umami" discussion. i somehow imagined that the sea urchin would have been whipped into some sort of spread, and broiled, open-faced, in a toaster. but i love sea urchin raw, so i wasn't disappointed to have whole pieces presented on a long, crispy flatbread. the contrast in textures was new and good. we loved both the chatham cod and the arroz de gato. and the caramel brioche! when i think of brioche, i think of stretching and pulling pieces of sweet pastry and popping them into my mouth. but this brioche yielded so easily under the fork, like my mother's chiffon cake. it was wonderful. and the pink peppercorn in the ice cream was the best surprise--no heat, just a mild, peppery crunch.

the lone disappointment of the night were the "sonhos," little munchkins, rolled in sugar and presented with 3 dipping sauces--a too-dark chocolate sauce (allison rightly compared it to baker's baking chocolate); a zingy apricot sauce, and a hazelnut sauce, a nice cross between whipped cream and a pudding). but the dough in the doughnuts tasted uncooked. that they were doused in sugar didn't help. the sauces just put it over the top, and not in the best way.

but the service throughout was impeccable: attentive, polite, and generous. and, aldea offered a lovely little dessert amuse bouche (chocolate caramels, brown butter financiers and white peach pates de fruit) that would surely set any little wrong right.