New York Slop

Home Style Con Carne

2012-01-21T19:56:00.005-05:00

There's nothing more comforting than pasta and homemade meat sauce on a snowy wintery day. This recipe comes from my family in Italy and was passed on to me by my dad. We have been making this meat sauce for my entire life so it's nostalgic to make it here in New York. I'm using a really nice fresh egg pasta from the Italian shop inside Chelsea Market and paired it with a decent Grenache (that my wine guy recommended). I enjoy making this dish for friends so I'm finally buying a dinning table so that I can share the love before the winter is over. Amici, mangiamo!

Weather Up

2012-01-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

Weather Up, a cute bar inTribeca, is cozy and perfect on a cold New York night. The chef from No.7 restaurant in Fort Greene is behind this little gem. It's a nice little spot to stop in to have a few unusual bites and great cocktails. I was there for a holiday party and was really impressed with both their bar snacks and cocktails. I might have just gotten lucky with a great bartender but he was very sensitive to my likes and dislikes and concocted me some wonderful drinks that sent me happily floating home...

Weather Up
159 Duane St (nr. West Broadway)
New York, NY

Post Holiday Detox

2012-01-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

The Christmas holidays chez moi in Vancouver is full of food. From the amazing home cooked Italian meals to the endless amount of amazing asian food, it's a foodie paradise. I can't even imagine how much Italian salami and prosciutto I must have consumed in these last two weeks, never mind all the pasta... and my dad's special homemade pizza... and all the wine to go with it! It was great but also heavy on the body.

I returned to New York feeling like a detox was in order. A 2-day juice cleanse from Juice Press seems the friendliest on the bank and I've always loved their juices and appreciated their overall style. Although the packaging is hideous, lacking even the simplest sense of design, their product is solid. I'm on the last leg on my 2 days and it's Friday night which is dangerous because I'm feeling hungry and thirsty for a cocktail. Hopefully I can restrain until tomorrow morning when I plan to indulge gently in a very satisfying Morrocan brunch at the usual spot, Café Mogador.

Whistler Special: Life in The Village

2012-01-08T20:31:00.000-05:00

One of my favourite spots in Whistler is Sushi Village. It's a kind of tradition to go there year after year. It's good sushi at a good price, which is actually the norm for sushi in Vancouver. We actually ate both nights there after waiting over an hour each time. It's always worth it though. I miss it already...

Vancouver Special: This Is Pho Real

2012-01-08T20:17:00.001-05:00

When I fly into Vancouver, I usually head straight to Au Petit Café to eat my favourite soup in the city. The lemongrass chicken soup is to die for. My parents are even super into it.. here they are devouring their pho. They always find it funny that we're the only non-asian people in there :) Also their spring rolls are amazing!

Go West

2011-12-24T12:13:00.005-05:00

This was one of the best brunches I've had in a while. You normally have to twist my arm to get me to go over the West Village but lately I've been pleasantly surprised. The last few restos I've been to over there have been more than okay, they've been great. And I didn't even mind the crowd this time either! It was Federico's birthday and we hadn't seen each other in a while... we had the loveliest time. We ordered our own dish and also shared the waffles. Everything was fantastic. The portions were perfect. Both eggs dishes, one with tomato sauce and the other over asparagus, were both amazing. The waffles were simple yet devine. I was really impressed. The vibe was casual but carefully considered. It was good. It really set the tone for the wonderful Sunday I was about to have. They have some great looking omelettes on the menu that I look forward to trying next time. I could definitely get used to brunching in the West Village, maybe even live there... shh, don't tell anyone.

Sant Ambroeus
259 W. 4th St. (nr. Perry St.)
New York, NY 10014

That's the Jam

2011-12-23T20:33:00.005-05:00

A few months ago my girl (aka our Icelandic Princess) gifted me some wonderful homemade organic jam. I've been devouring it ever since so I thought I should blog about it before it was all gone! Please make me some more, I will never buy jam again I swear! The texture is so amazing, big plump blueberries with the fresh lemon taste. I've been putting it on everything... besides toast and bread, its fantastic on ice cream and plain greek yogurt. Homemade is where its at! Let's start selling it in NYC!

This Little Piggy

2011-12-23T18:11:00.000-05:00

I finally made it try Maialino, Danny Meyers restaurant at the Gramercy Hotel. The name, which means "little piggy" in italian is good. Good enough for a simple Sunday brunch. We enjoyed a few mimosa's before hand which always helps and the service was quite good overall. The food was nice. I enjoyed my poached eggs over some winter vegetables, nice a light and quite flavourful. I need to go back and try the pasta. I'm curious because the overall brunch experience isn't very italian at all.

Maialino
2 Lexington Avenue (Gramery Hotel)
New York, NY
maialinonyc.com

Oh, Monsieur!

2011-11-23T01:35:00.002-05:00

I finally went to Bubby's for the first time about 2 months ago. I've been wanting to go for years and just never made it around to going. Then in one week, I went three times. It's great! It has been a Tribeca staple for years. The menu is tight, the vibe is good and most importantly the food is fantastic. This was the Croque Monsieur that we ordered along with the Sour Cream Pancakes which also blew my mind. I had the most fantastic fresh grape juice that was served cold in a glass jar. Loved it.

Bubby's
120 Hudson Street
New York, NY
(212) 219-0666

Real Gelato, Non E Vero!

2011-11-22T00:51:00.003-05:00

This is the most authentic gelato I've tasted in New York. But hey who I am? I'm not the biggest gelato connessieur in the city. I usually don't even risk it. I save myself for my yearly trips to the Italian Riviera to eat the real deal... every single night. But last weekend all that changed when my friends wanted ice cream after one of our typical epic dim sum Sundays. At first I just watched as they all happily devoured their ice creams... then I decided to treat myself to my favourite combo, limone and cioccolato together. I know it sounds weird but it's that sweet creamy mixed with the tartness of the lemon that I love. It was fantastic! The woman working the shop explained to me that they make the ice cream from scratch every morning and that their other location is in Capri. There is only this one location in New York and the other in Italy. Although I hate their branding and overall design, legit is the word.

La Cremeria
178 Mulberry St
New York, NY
(212) 226-6758

That's The Juice

2011-11-20T21:00:00.003-05:00

To me there's something so satisfying about going to the grocery store and buying really fresh ingredients, all the fixings and most importantly good meat to make some juicy hamburgers at home. Especially with a nice bottle of red wine. Pure heaven.

False Advertsing

2011-11-20T16:53:00.006-05:00

I have been to Peels a handful of times. Each time being a little more annoyed than the last because the waiting time has seem to have gone from bad to worse. Every time the food has been nothing more than just fine but I saw this very incising image (left) a few months ago in Bon Appetit magazine and I quickly took a snap on my phone as reference. It was of the shrimp and grits dish at Peels. I couldn't help myself to go back and try it one last time to see if maybe this was the one dish that I had just skipped over. As you can see the actual dish (right) looked nothing like the photograph in the magazine and sadly the taste didn't leave up to my expectation. The overly smokey flavour of this dark brown sauce and the thick bacon bits overpowered the eggs and grits to such a point that I couldn't taste anything else. And although we had the most adorable waiter ever, I left feeling disappointed, again.

Epic Alchemy

2011-09-24T15:45:00.006-04:00

Tea that tastes like tomato soup.... all I can say it wow. Last Wednesday night I was a very lucky girl and had the opportunity to dine at Eleven Park Madison. We sat at the bar just to have a few drinks and appetizers and were treated to the full hors d'oeuvres service from the very famous tasting menu there. Since it is one of the top 25 restaurants in the world, this was nothing short of amazing. Sadly I did not bring my camera and therefore have borrowed a few images I found online. The chef Daniel Humm is also an alchemist and is playing with reductions and foams. I can't believe I am saying this but I am now am a believer... I was very anti-foam food up until this point. I think the beauty of his dishes is that he leaves enough food to chew to still satisfy my love of taste and texture.

It started with the amazing tea, a very intricate hand tied bundle of dried leaves, that of course tasted like tomato soup. I have no idea how. It then went on to course after course of delicious and beautifully presented hors d'oeuvres of raw fish, egg, uni, caviar and the very wonderful powdered beet goat cheese lollipops. Every dish was a work of art and the tastes were each unique, full of surprises and very delicious. The bread even came with butter and goat butter, something I had never seen before. As for our actually ordered appetizers we shared a seafood gnocchi and another pasta dish, a variation of tagiatelle with lemon and alaskan king crab. Both were extremely light and delicate and insanely delicious. It was truly epic. Thank you Tanner.

Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
(212) 889-0905

(images from donuts4dinner.com)

Oh Bresaola

2011-05-27T00:24:00.007-04:00

Bresaola is an Italian cured beef salami which I bought at Gaia. It's from the north of Italy where my family is from, so I eat it a lot there in the summers at the beach. It's the perfect thing on a hot day or night. It's nice and light and has a wonderful taste. Here I topped it with fresh wild arugula, parmigiano-reggiano, fresh squeezed lemon and olive oil. This is my favourite olive oil right now, from Buon Italia in Chelsea Market. So so good.

A Taste of Italy in the LES

2011-05-27T00:03:00.003-04:00

Gaia is this adorable new Italian café hidden just below the street right on Houston. It remains so far farely under the radar because it's easy to miss. It has just a few tables where a few local italian-americans who live in the area were enjoying their lunches. The menu consists mostly of delicious-looking panini's and a few salads. In addition, they seem to have a daily special pasta and salad on the menu board as well. They bake all their bread fresh there. I popped in just to take a look and ended up buying some sliced meats. The owner, Gaia, is from Milano and has a lovely selection of cold cuts and cheese. I picked up a quarter lb of mortadella and bresaola. She also gave me some freshly baked bread out of the oven for free. I can hardly wait to go back and try their special salads which looked fantastic.

Gaia Italian Café
251 East Houston (nr Norfolk)
New York, NY

Mexican Bakery Still Holds Strong

2011-05-26T23:50:00.003-04:00

The breakfast burrito at Mexican Bakery is one of the few things I really crave. All their food is good, I especially love their shrimp tacos. But as for breakfast, their steak breakfast burrito is pretty awesome. It's the perfect mix of black beans, sliced steak, cheese and egg. I even dream of the texture and taste. I also love the random mix of people in their too. The delivery boy hates me because I love to order it Saturday mornings and eat it in bed. I call and he always makes me wait till 1pm when they officially start delivery, so I call at 1:01! This time we went and ate it there.

Downtown Mexican Bakery
69 1st Ave
New York, NY
(212) 254-1757

Blessed Balls

2011-05-26T23:34:00.005-04:00

Summer time for me means bubble tea! Growing up in Vancouver, where bubble tea is just a part of everyday life, it's nostalgic for me to drink cold tea and chew on those ever-so-yummy tapioca pearls. It was a lovely evening strolling through Chinatown sipping a refreshing lychee green bubble tea. There's nothing better.

Quickly
237 Grand St (btwn Bowery & Chrystie St)
New York, NY

Get Fresh

2011-05-26T23:26:00.003-04:00

The weather is finally turning here in New York and summer is almost here! This called for a celebration, so after our weekly tennis lesson my girl Erika and I toasted the new season with a lovely dinner and a nice glass of white vino! I have one of the most amazing salads ever at Westville in Chelsea and she enjoyed their super tasty hot dogs! We all know how great Westville is with their fresh market vegetables and their awesome burger and dogs.... well pretty much the whole menu is solid. But this salad was quite spectacular. It was your basic caprese salad but the secret ingredient was pickled ramps and red onion (which were somehow sweet) It was super refreshing and the perfect thing for my post-cleanse tummy. I tried to recreate it at home without much success.

Westville Chelsea
246 West 18th Street
New York, NY
(212) 924-2223

Spring Cleaning

2011-05-19T19:57:00.014-04:00

That's right, I am not eating. Food is my entire life so this have been really hard. And I have never denied myself of food, EVER! So this is a big deal for me.

After a very long winter, I finally decided to do a cleanse. It's been an interesting experience, or experiment. Cleanses are all the rage this year I feel like more than ever. People want to detox, reboot, get skinny. I wanted to do something that would help me feel rejuvenated and off to a fresh start. There were some great deals recently on both on Refinery and on Groupon. I am doing a 3-day Deep Love Cleanse from Organic Avenue.
I figured since the bottles were cute I'd be more likely to drink them. Not so much. It's a 3-day regimented program of nothing but juices and liquids. (7 bottles/day) I've never been much of a juicer and the whole experience of eating and texture of solid foods is what I live for! That being said there's something empowering about forcing myself to do something like this. And best of all, I feel great! I have a lot of energy and my skin feels soft and younger somehow.

The interesting part of the experiment is that it's made me really conscious of what people are eating around me. The first night all I dreamt of food, in all shapes and forms... everything from my favourite foods to anything and everything I could get my hands on. It was wonderful and awful all at the same time. I woke up feeling like I had cheated on the cleanse. No doubt that I was probably chewing in my sleep. I can't wait to get a chewy breakfast burrito in my mouth again! I think I will appreciate food even more after this experience. I'm on Day 3 and still going strong. And I don't feel hungry. It's wild considering I am ALWAYS hungry. Tomorrow I start eating again. I can't wait!

Turn Up the Heat

2011-05-11T01:04:00.004-04:00

I have officially NEVER had Sri Lankan food, until last Tuesday. I loved it! It's unlike anything I've ever tasted. The flavours are so unique. It's often compared to South Indian food because they also uses a lot of coconut but it's way spicier! I've read that it's some of the spiciest cuisines in the world. Our server told us that their mild is a medium in Indian food. So we got everything mild except for the fish curry, which she made medium by default. And it was spicy enough for us. But I'm thinking to move up to "medium" level next time! She was amazing because she took care of us once she knew it was our first time there and eating Sri Lankan food. She gave us a nice sampling of great dishes to share.

We started with some great appetizers, these fried patties and fish balls. We did the whole meal vegetarian and fish because Ama doesn't eat meat and it was fantastic. We then had 3 vegetables with rice, fish curry, this insane Dahl dish which was lentils stewed in coconut milk. That was one of our favourites! The other huge hit was this dish called Kotthu Roti. It was kind of the pad thai of Sri Lankan food we were calling it. They say its a Sri Lankan road-side speciality prepared from doughy pancakes shredded and stir fried with vegetables, onions and egg. I could eat it every day! For dessert we had the fried bananas and ice cream it was delicious! It's byob so we grabbed this great spanish white wine next door at this cute wine shop next door. It went perfectly with the food.

The food and experience was great. The place is small and dark so you feel like you've stepped out of busy New York and into a calm and cozy place. It would be hard to go there with more than 4 people. I can't wait to go back or get take-away (no delivery) because it's right in my hood.

Sigiri
91 1st Avenue (btwn 5th + 6th St)
New York, NY
(212) 614-9333

I Spy on Thigh

2011-05-11T01:01:00.009-04:00

Northern Spy Co. is yummy and nice and bright for brunch. Although we waited longer than usual this time it was relaxing by their open window as we sipped on lovely gruner cocktails and bloody mary's. I always go for the same dish, the kale salad with 2 fried eggs on top, it's amazing! (or the polenta and eggs in winter) But this chicken and egg sandwich has always caught my eye :) And boy is it's nice! It's a poached egg, over a super juicy piece of crispy chicken thigh (organic no doubt) with chimichurri sauce. I loved it! And the bun was nice a squishy. Don't forgot to have a biscuit there too, their biscuits are the bomb. Boom!

Northern Spy Co.
511 East 12th Street
New York, NY
northernspyfoodco.com

Snap Crackle Pop! Will the Bubble Burst?

2011-04-29T17:33:00.018-04:00

The pop-up craze is only getting crazier in New York and the latest one is the James Beard Foundation at Chelsea Market. For only 27 days, top chefs from all over the country are cooking dinner for 3 days each. Tickets are selling in advance and selling out in only a few hours. I got tickets to the chefs from Frankie's Sputino since I knew it was guaranteed to be decent fare. It's a 4-course dinner, and wine and tip IS included! So once you are finished you just get up and go because everything is paid ahead.

The food was good, although nothing mind blowing. Lots of their famous olive oil on everything! The appetizer was a lovely smoked salmon with olive oil and aged peperoncino. Then the first course was a faro risotto which had a nice chewy texture. The second course was this meat in red sauce thing, which I can't say that I loved. It was like a pizza or a pasta without the pasta. The flavour of the sauce was good but the meat was a bit chewy and had too much fat on it. The dessert was really good. it was a simple piece of olive oil cake with marscapone and rhubarb on the side. Each course came with a glass of wine 1 prosecco, 1 white and 2 red. It really added to the meal, the wines they chose were really great!

The space itself was a bit funky. It felt like you were in an emptied out Gap store, it was quite big and clearly not designed for a restaurant. But the cafeteria-like style suited the 3 long communal tables that were placed in the middle of the space. It was nice because as soon as you sat down you quickly realized that you wouldn't be dining alone but rather with the whole table. The people were a total mix of eager foodies who were all too excited that they had managed to get their hands on one of these hot tickets. They all seemed to frequent every pop-up in town... they were pop-up crazy! I think Terry and I were the youngest people in there, and we aren't that young! But it was nice to do something out of the ordinary, outside our hoods and usual scene.

JBF Pop Up
at Chelsea Market

That Coffee Is Still Ace

2011-04-29T10:26:00.006-04:00

Every time I have a coffee at Stumptown I think to myself "why don't I come here all the time?". I then remember the usually lines, the scenesters and the tourists that hang out there. I swung by there this week when I miraculously was off work early and it was lovely. I could have stayed a sipped on my cappucino all day. Hands down still one of the best coffees in the city.

Stumptown (at the Ace Hotel)
18 W 29th Street
New York, NY

Private Happy Hour

2011-04-27T12:50:00.006-04:00

Norwood is a private club that is targeted at New York's creatives as a place to meet, greet and socialize. It seems like it has been around for years but somehow I had never been there. I had a meeting there last week and it was indeed quite civilized. It was nice to be able to enjoy delicious cocktails, tasty snacks over leisurely conversation. It's not as snobby as Soho house and it's not overrun by stiff British men playing board games. It was a nice enough scene. The food was really tasty. We shared few little bites, fish tacos, lobster roll sliders and a giant meatball. The sliders were my favourite, they were great! It was a great place to hang out for an hour or two before starting out the night. I've heard the backyard is really nice so looking forward to that once the weather gets nicer.

Norwood
241 West 14th Street
New York, NY

Thirsty for Spring

2011-04-21T15:34:00.009-04:00

The spring that is supposed to be here by now (and isn't) is in full effect at Elsa. They just updated their menu yesterday to include some amazing new spring cocktails. They have kept some favourite on the menu, like the S.M. Jenkins and have added a whole slew of new ones. I asked which were the most amazing and they were all too happy to point out the 3 or 4 not to be missed. The first one I tried was a habanero tequila-based one which was nice and spicy. It was topped with cilantro which make it surprisingly savory. Not even a drop of sweetness. Then I tried this caraway-infused rye drink, (pictured below) which was unreal. It was the first cocktail on the menu and it was delicious! I have yet to be disappointed with Elsa (during the week). Their staff is so friendly and their cocktails are on point. It's probably my favourite bar in the east village.

Elsa
217 East 3rd Street (btwn ave A + B)
New York, NY

Hear Me Roar

2011-04-20T16:50:00.011-04:00

Friday night is date night and this place is most definitely date-worthy. This past Friday I was treated to a very lovely dinner at the very trendy speak-easy restaurant, The Lion. The space, once a gentleman's club now-turned-restaurant, is beautiful. The walls are covered with an eclectic mix of art from photography to pieces of Warhol and Basquiat. You feel special, powerful, and quite celebratory as you sit above this magnificent room looking down at the art and the hustle of the staff and crowded tables below. The menu, which typographically is quite nice, covers a range of all the usual suspects, salads, meats, and of course a burger. The food is a bit hard to rate. It's good enough to make The Lion worth a visit. But it's not the food that you go there for. That being said it was fine and very well presented. The burger comes accompanied by a lovely little jar of pickles and topped off with a giant (almost grotesque) slab of pork belly. I loved how intense it looked but was also relieved to not have to eat it. I ordered fish, a lovely pink trout. It was fresh, simple and not at all memorable.

The service however was quite exceptional. Our waiter was most attentive and offered a strong opinion with some good suggestions. The lighting was nice and the noise well controlled and we really enjoyed ourselves sipping on wine over great lengthy conversations.

The Lion
62 W. 9th Street
New York, NY 10011 (nr. 6th Ave)
212-353-8400

Morning Brew

2011-04-20T15:33:00.001-04:00

This cute café is quietly located on the corner of adorable 12th street at avenue A. There's a lot of hidden gems on 12th street, Motorino, Northern Spy Co. to name a few... And notice it's always kept so clean? I never really make it over that east especially first thing in the morning, but it was lovely and a great place to have a nice chat over a good morning cappucino.

Ost
441 East 12th Street (at Ave A)
New York, NY
(212) 477-5600
ostcafenyc.com

The Good Guys

2011-04-20T14:48:00.010-04:00

You're craving a burger... you're are way on the west side of Midtown... and the line up at Shake Shack is always too long... what to do? Never fear, Five Guys is near.

I have been avoided this place like the plague. Everyone I work with always grabs it to go and eats it in the office. It looked like my worst fast food nightmare... cheap, decent but nothing outstanding. I had heard that exact feedback, that the burger is just... okay. I don't like okay, especially with burgers. It's like a croissant, I don't eat them unless I know it's going to be good. If I'm gonna slap a stick of butter on my ass, it better well be worth it! I stand by this same philosophy for burgers. It's not exactly a lunch without consequence. It's not the healthy choice, so it better taste amazing. I pride myself in finding those gem burgers in the city and try to only treat myself to those once and a while.

None the less, I did go in (without any expectation) to try the burger at Five Guys and it was good! It fits all my requirements of squishy bun, american cheese, mayo (or special sauce) and pickles! The menu is customizable, which I love. You can add or take away from their master list of condiments and toppings. The place, which is less than inspiring is a well functioning operation. All in all, I really enjoyed my burger. Fries, which everyone raves about, are not worth noting. Then again I don't really like fries.

Five Guys Burgers & Fries
316 West 34th Street
New York, NY
(212) 564-6115 ‎

Fading Beauty

2011-04-15T15:19:00.004-04:00

Sadly my great experience at Miss Lily's was not to be repeated. I took my friend J there last night for dinner and was sadly disappointed. The drinks were near impossible to drink, the cod fritters way too oily, and the mains, just not the same. I had tasted my friend's oxtail stew last time but this time it just wasn't as good. The portions were also out of wack. Mine way too big and J's was so small that he finished in just a few minutes. I felt terrible leaving so much on my plate. The other strange thing is the crowd felt completely different than the first time I had gone, which was only a week or two ago. Very strange. I'm hoping its just growing pains and they will find their sweet spot soon.

Martinique, Mon Amour

2011-04-07T13:07:00.002-04:00

I just came back from an amazing trip to Martinique, a department of France in the Caribbean. It's was magnifique! And the food was wonderful. I had the opportunity to taste all the local cuisine from the luxury of the hotel to a private meal on the beach. I can't wait to go back again.

To read all about the food in Martinique, see here at Martinique Slop >

Taim Moves East

2011-04-07T10:56:00.004-04:00

The Taim mobile has moved it's way to the East Village... well Tuesday and Thursday nights only. I was all too excited to be able to pick one up on my way home on Tuesday :) I had yet to try this famous Taim falafel and it did live up to my expectations! The pita was super chewy and the falafel was fresh and not too crunchy. The sauce was just enough and the hummus was tangy and citrusy. It was delicious! I want to try their smoothies next.

Taim Mobile
taimmobile.com

Miss Lily Sure is Pretty

2011-04-04T14:29:00.017-04:00

Miss Lily's is the talk of the town after opening (not officially) about a month ago. By the same owners of La Esquina, they are doing this one Jamaican style. And boy are those Jamaicans pretty. From the moment I walked in it was apparent that being gorgeous is a pre-requisite to getting a job here. The hostess at the front door was beautiful and greeted us with a big smile. The bar boys...umm so delicious! I could barely focus on ordering a drink. Our waitress, who was from Paris, was ridiculously cute! All the staff was cheerful, and even dancing as they brought us our food. One thing I noticed is that they were all so positive and amazingly nice! It was really refreshing after all the attitude you get at La Esquina on any given night.

The space is really cozy and quaint. There's a first section set up more like a dinner with the bar and kitchen to the right. Then there's a dinner room in the back, that's got larger round tables with booth seating. It was really great for our group of 6.

The menu isn't huge, it's one page of appetizers, entrees and a few desserts. I really loved that it was simple and easy to navigate. We tried almost everything on the menu. The jerk chicken wings, the ceviche, the plantain chips and dip, the pepper shrimp and the cod fritters. There were all delicious but the cod fritters really stood out. For mains, I had the whole fried fish, which was tasty. Kevin had the Oxtail stew (which was probably one the best things on the menu) Sarra had the jerk chicken, which was great. Koko and Andre had the vegetable stew, which was surprisingly excellent. For dessert there was this coconut bread pudding which our french waitress warned us would make us all fall in love. Since we were all already in love with her it was easy to enjoy this dessert :) We also ordered a Guinness float, which came with a mini glass of Guinness that you pour over the ice cream. The combination of the tart beer with the creamy ice cream was awesome!

Even thought Miss Lily's isn't officially open to the public they are open for "previews" but it is running as a fully functioning restaurant. They are obviously trying to keep in on the DL so that it doesn't get overrun by the typical weekend crowds. Which is fine by me because it felt like a nicely filtered crowd and Questlove was right behind me at the next table!

Miss Lily's
132 West Houston Street (at Sullivan)
New York, NY
misslilysnyc.com

Soho's New Kitchen

2011-03-31T16:55:00.006-04:00

I had the most interesting Saturday last weekend. I starting chatting with these three older Italians on the subway and they invited me to join them for a most lovely and leisurely lunch in Soho. They took me to David Burke's new restaurant in Soho called Kitchen. The space was nice enough although surprisingly it wasn't very busy. The building itself is really nice and stands out on the corner of Grand and 6th avenue.

I think these italians are big in the art world here because even though it was their first time there, the staff seemed to know who they were. They frequent David Burke's other restaurant on the regular. As soon as we sat down we were presented with flutes of Prosecco. We then ordered bloody mary's and a great bottle of vino from California. It was probably the best bloody mary i've ever had. It had roasted okra in it and the flavour was awesome! There were these lovely starters, one was duck paté and the other a ricotta eggplant spread. For my main I had this very pretty crab cake dish. It tasted really fresh and had a lovely flavour. There were these cold poached prawns on the side that would really light and refreshing. I really enjoyed the food.

The service however was not good. The italians were not impressed since they are used to superb service and dine exclusively at some of the top restaurants in New York. The one woman's food got mixed up and the espressos arrived late and not up to their taste. So we decided to go to their friend Emilio's restaurant after to have a proper espresso with grappa!

It was nice to meet new people and to dine in such a civilized way. The experience took place completely in (broken) italian (mixed with french) It was a fun challenge for me. It was a really nice treat on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Kitchen
23 Grand Street ( + 6th Ave)
New York, NY
(212) 201-9119
davidburkekitchen.com

What Happens When

2011-03-27T01:18:00.006-04:00

What happens when a restaurant pops up in Nolita and changes chef and outfit every month? My first gut thought was probably bad food... how can I restaurant get up and running and serve good food? How can it stay consistent and just as is builds momentum switch... well the crew at What Happens When is doing... and doing is well enough. As far as the interior goes, it's not my cup of tea The space is trying to stay minimal but cluttered with hanging pieces of wood and random graphics on the walls. I don't get it. It's like a bad graphic designer is trying to realize their dream of being an interior designer. Luckily the room stays dimly lit for dinner so it's less irritating. The place was packed with a very random crowd, they didn't even seem to be foodies nor people that would frequent that neighbourhood.

The food however was interesting and very good overall. The prix fixe is well-priced at $55, for an appetiser, a main and a dessert. Their drinks and alocohol is way over-priced which is how they get you. We tried the tempura frog legs and the venision tartare as starters, then the braised short ribs over polenta and the trout as mains. All was tasty. The frog legs where tasted and fried, can't go wrong ;) but my raw venison was actually really interesting with hints of curry and a lovely cracker to scoop up the morsels of dark red meat. Although I do have to say I'm not a fan of the smeared food presentation. All the sauces on the food and desserts where smeared on the plate. In my opinion brown sauce smeared never looks appetizing. There was also a little starter thing before the appertisers, pictured here but I can't remember what it was now...not really a good sign. I remember there was a cheesy homemade bun that was delicious!

This all being said, I do really like the concept as a whole. A theme, a story, a soundtrack and most importantly a unique menu. The idea of collaborating with an interior designer and a chef for each iteration of the restaurant is a lovely idea. The beauty in this is who you chose to collaborate with and now I'm really curious to see what happens next.

What Happens When
25 Cleveland Place
New York, NY
(212) 925-8310

Magical Moroccan Mix

2011-03-27T01:07:00.002-04:00

I usually start off my weekend with a classic Bloody Mary at Mogador but this morning I was feeling especially hungover and needed something stronger yet refreshing. Our favourite server Luke recommended this drink, which has hints of ginger, St Germaine and topped with anise, which are some of my favourite flavours. It was the perfect start to a nice restful weekend.

Cafe Mogador
101 Saint Marks Pl
New York, NY
(212) 677-2226

Dessert Szchewan Style

2011-03-27T00:49:00.005-04:00

Szechuan Gourmet is one of my favourite restaurants these days. We've been doing these epic group dinners there all through the winter. The food is fantastic and super spicy... and was voted to have the best MaPo Tofu in the city! This time we decided to try dessert which turned out to completely different than we expected. These soft mochi-like rice balls are filled with black sesame (my favourite!) and served warm in water. They were delicious!

Szechuan Gourmet
21 W 39th St
New York, NY
(212) 921-0233

Support Japan

2011-03-25T17:54:00.003-04:00

All these great restaurants are participating in this program! You can visit the website to find out more. A great way to help out and support.

website

From Basquiat to Bohemian

2011-02-23T23:15:00.005-05:00

After months of wanting to try this restaurant I finally made it there last night with my friend Terry. Bohemian is a secret little restaurant hidden behind a Japanese meat shop in Noho. This resto has no phone number and and it's whereabouts is spread through word of mouth. Once someone goes they get a name card and the card and number gets passed along.

Apparently this building was owned by Andy Warhol and it's said that Basquiat himself died at this address. The long hallway leads you down to a door where you need to buzz a doorbell to get in.

The space is small and cozy. It's like you are in someone's living room. The furniture is modern and there's a Japanese garden in the back of the space. The food was great. We tried almost everything on the menu; beef sashimi, uni coquette, mushroom yuzu salad, shrimp with garlic, black miso cod and mini burgers. The beef sashimi was really good and the uni coquette was really creamy and delicious. We ended on two awesome desserts; a sake panna cotta with kokuto and a chocolate crème brulée.

The only strange thing was the crowd. There wasn't a simple Japanese person in there. I would have expected that on a weekend but on a Tuesday night it was a bit surprising. The food actually seemed to also be catering to a foreign tongue. It wasn't very traditional in that sense. Some of the taste and ideas were rooted in Japanese dishes but then really taken to a whole other place. Even the black cod had a little pot of cheese gratin on the side. I normally wouldn't love this kind of fusion but the taste were all really working so I have to give it the props it deserves. It was almost a french take on Japanese cuisine if I had to compare to anything. Definitely worth tasting everything on the menu. I look forward to going back again soon.

Bohemian
57 Great Jones street
Ground Floor

This Wolf is Bad

2011-02-21T21:18:00.007-05:00

And by bad I mean bad ass. Some wonderful Austrian cuisine has joined the East Village. The Wolf himself greeted me at the bar as I wondered in on a very busy Saturday night. Wolfgang, and his partner Edi, have just recently opened Edi & the Wolf on Avenue C. These boys are famous already for their restaurant Seasonal in midtown, so they definitely hit the ground with a running start. The food was fantastic! We sat and the bar and got a first hand view into the action. We got great recommendations both for wine and food. The bartender, Eugene, who was really a Turkish pirate, took such good care of us! So much so that we ended up closing out the place with some of the locals crew well until the early morning!

As for the food, we started with the Pickled Vegetables, which were so unique and refreshing. Then the Spatzle, which was SO delicious. It was incredibly creamy with wonderful mushroom, roasted brussel sprouts and topped with thinly sliced fried onions. The combination of textures were amazing! It was probably the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

We then ordered the Wiener Schnitzel. It comes both in veal and in heritage pig. It was truly amazing! I wish I could eat it every night. It was so thin and the batter was so airy and crispy. They are so famous for their schnizel at their other restaurant Seasonal so I was so happy that they have brought it to the east village!

The wine... oh the wine, was incredible. I was first introduced to dry Austrian wines in San Francisco at Slanted Door and haven't had too much exposure to them since...so this was a real treat. We tried at least 3 or 4 variaties and they were all so complex and so special! They work so nicely with the food, even on a cold night. The Wolf poured us two glasses of this very rare Riesling shown below. If anyone can find this bottle, please let me know!!

I loved it so much that I took another few friends there tonight and unfortunatly I didn't take more photos but I tried some more dishes, including the ribs, a salad starter and the homemade ravoli stuffed with this wonderful Austrian cheese that I have never tried before. All the dishes were great!

Now the space... I don't know where to start. It's like a cozy little haven. The minute you walk in you feel it. The comfort, the love behind the food and the people. The space is designed by a set designer so it is over the top and at the same time so right and simple. Nothing feels overdone or like it's trying to hard. It's just interesting and new... and really wonderful! The faucet in the washrooms are simply two tubes that come out of the pipes tied together with a metal fixture. It's honest and artisitic. It feels like you're on a set of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film and I didn't want to ever leave.

It was truly one of those amazing New York moments… finding a gem in your neighbourhood with a welcoming family vibe.
I plan on frequently this place for the rest of the winter. They just opened yesterday for their first brunch. The Wolf let me peek at the Brunch menu and they have a Wiener Schnitzel burger!! So I will most likely be back on the weekend for that. They will open up their garden in the back once the weather gets warmer so this will no doubt be the happening brunch spot this summer!

Edi & the Wolf
102 Avenue C (+ 7th st)
ediandthewolf.com

Hot For Chocolate

2011-02-14T11:48:00.004-05:00

City Bakery is doing a different hot chocolate every day this month! I'm not even a huge hot chocolate fan but I love this idea and incentive to get people to get coming back, every day even! A crew of us went there yesterday for dessert after another epic dim sum get together and wallowed in thick, creamy, spicy hot chocolate. It was oh too good and eewy. The hot chocolate of the day was Chili Pepper Hot Chocolate. I could drink about half of it. It was so good but way too rich for me. The marmallow is pretty amazing for an additional $1 but well worth it for the full on experience. I want to head back to try the Bourbon Hot Chocolate, that's more my style.

City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
New York, NY

Get Duck and Dirty

2011-02-09T15:29:00.003-05:00

This duck broth is no joke. I had read about it on blogs but had been hesitant to try it. I'm not a big duck head although I do love the occasional duck dumplings at Dim Sum Go Go. This little Thai fusion restaurant on 9th Avenue has been really surprising me lately. I'm been meeting my friend Karin there on average once a week so far. It's really good. It's not always as good but overall it's good. They have a well-priced lunch special which is great. So far I've tried about 4 different things, all good. My favourite so far, beside his soup, is the shrimp pad thai, SO moist and delicious! I might even get it tomorrow! There's not a lot of good restaurants near my work so this is a real gem in comparison. The duck meat, which was good, was not my favourite part, but rather the broth that was so delicious. It's dark, strong flavour feels surprisingly light and the noodles which are thin egg noodles don't leave you feel overly full. It was a nice balance of textures and flavours, I highly recommend it.

Aura
462 9th Avenue (nr. 36th st)
212) 971-8530

A Gift From The Chef

2011-02-09T15:21:00.002-05:00

As the temperature dropped to almost 14 degrees fahrenheit (that's -10c!) last night, Heron and I took shelter inside the comforting warmth of Ippudo. It was his first time so I was super excited to have him experience it. I outfitted him with the usually first-timer special... a Hirata pork bun and the cucumber salad, followed by a bowl of the always-amazing Akamaru Modern. (with noodle Bari-katta, very important!) He was most satisfied and I was happy. The chef, Hirata, surprised with a lovely little starter. It was definitely not on the menu and it was delicious! It was a set of 4 very nicely grilled jumbo shrimp with a brocolli purée topping. It was great! It's been a while since I've seen the chef, he tends to work daytime mostly now, so it was a really nice treat!

Ippudo
65 4th Avenue
New York, Ny
(212) 388-0088

The Spy That Caught My Eye

2011-02-07T17:21:00.007-05:00

The best kept secret on the brunch menu at Northern Spy Co. is the kale salad. You can add 2 eggs on top of it to make the perfect breakfast. I've always got the polenta, which is also fantastic, so cozy and comforting. And the biscuits, sausage, gravy and eggs was yummy too, although a real heart stopper. I love a bite but could never actually order it. The kale salad on the other hand is the perfect zero-carb breakfast before fashion week hits this week! Actually I lied because you need to have at least one of their AMAZING biscuits!

Northern Spy Co.
511 East 12th Street (btwn A + B)
New York, NY
northernspyfoodco.com

A Juicy Burger Your Highness?

2011-02-07T16:34:00.007-05:00

Hell ya! As you might have read I've been obsessively trying to find the best burger in the East Village. It's a tough one... After FINALLY trying Royale, it's even tougher. Royale as promised, was VERY good! Better than Brindle room and Blk Mrk though? That is the question... I really enjoyed this burger big time. The fact that all they really have is burgers and blood mary's just makes me love them more. This was the ultimate after a late night of drinking.... walking up on Ave C to the sign which simply read "All you really need is a burger and a bloody mary"... and I was like... YES! it's as if they read my mind and held their arms out to me, "come inside!" It was truly a beautiful moment. Maybe it's because I'm listenning to the perfect soundtrack (the Morning Benders) while writing this entry but it's all just coming together. All in all this is definitely one of the best burgers in the East Village.

Royale
157 Avenue C
New York, NY
(212) 254-6600
royalenyc.com

Oji-san Oden Party

2011-02-07T16:16:00.004-05:00

Last weekend my friend Masako invited me to her friends place for an Oden party! I love love Oden so I was all too eager to participate in the festivities. It's the perfect healthy winter food in my opinion. There were 5 of us, it was great! There was the most amazing sushi spread as appetizer, with some of the freshest uni I've ever had! We used this spicy yuzu kocho on the salmon sashimi and it was amazing!

The oden was great too, a lot of different things in there. It was basically an oji-san style meal... throw in as much as possible; a million kinds of fish cake, seafood, mochi, daikon, cured eggs... all the fixings... and of course with the most important ingredient, the karashi (mustard) on the side!

Thanks so much for having me and can't wait till the next one! ごちそさまでした！

Goat Is The New Meat In Town

2011-02-06T21:56:00.009-05:00

Goat Town is one the new restos in the East Village I've been wanted to try. And it's good and adorable. The space is really great. The washroom lights were really interesting. It's cozy and the staff is friendly. Our server was very helpful and had a strong and honest opinion about the dishes on the menu. I really love when people can direct me as to their best items on the menu and then really deliver. This was one of those cases. We started with the goat meatballs, which were delicious! This was actually my first time eating goat meat. It was over a lovely celery mash with pomegranates, mint and roasted almonds. Great texture! Another starter we tried was this lovely little salad, which was a green similar to arugula but without that strong bite, topped off with a few pieces of fried chicken, which were insanely good!

For mains, two of us tried the chicken, which I never order... but the server highly recommended it. It was fantastic! Super juicy and moist and had really amazing roasted vegetable under it. Probably one of the best roast chicken's I've had. The burger, however, was not very good. The server also mentioned that the steak and the pork dishes are both fantastic but I wasn't in a red meat mood. I will definitely try the steak next time.

We tried a few desserts and they were all really good. However, the salted caramel ice cream, which was recommended, was too salty.

I'm looking forward to stopping by there for their happy hour. They have a oysters and wine special before 7pm. And their brunch looks pretty great. More to come.

Goat Town
511 E 5th St (Btwn Ave A & Ave B)
New York, NY
www.goattownnyc.com

Forza Roberta!

2011-02-01T23:23:00.005-05:00

So I finally made it to Roberta's. We were VERY ambitious and showed up with 7 people on a Saturday night. We knew we would wait and we were ready for it. Well at least we thought we were. We waiting a good 2.5 hours to finally eat... maybe more. It's a great space and I do think it was worth the wait. It felt like every hipster in all of New York was there on the scene. I'd much prefer to go next time on a week day, but it was great.

The pizza was very good. I actually had a "gout deja-vu", which is when i taste a memory... when the pizza is good, it reminds me of Italy. I can feel it. And I felt it. It's when the crust gets just burnt enough and you get that taste, that Italia taste. I really liked the margarita and this kale sausage one. We also ordered a 3 cheese, which I did NOT like at all. It had way too much pepper on it, and I think it was even white pepper, which has that weird powdery texture... not my cup of tea at all. I found it to be barely edible. Everything else was really good. The appetizers were fantastic! Especially this huge thinly sliced white radish... I'm blanking on the name right now (boy I am tired :) but it was great! This big and quite rarely done piece of meat is venison, which I was told was amazing. Their menu and dishes are very unique. I really look forward to going back to try more of their mains and pastas.
I really want to come back in the summer and sit in the backyard for brunch.

Roberta's
261 Moore Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 417-1118
robertaspizza.com

Ippudo Still Serving Karaka Kogashi Miso Ramen

2011-02-01T22:59:00.003-05:00

I have been on a serious Ippudo marathon lately. I think I have been 3 times in the last 2 weeks... and each time with groups from 6-10 people! It's no joke! The weather has made it easy to eat that fatty and delicious soup. People have been going crazy for ramen and the wait is still the normal 2.5 hours on most nights!

My favourite ramen on the menu right now is the Karaka Kogashi Miso Ramen. It's a combination of slightly sweet and spicy taste and not as heavy as the Akamaru tonkotsu broth. It's limited and will only be on the menu till February, probably end of February I'm hoping. So run and try it before it's gone!

Ippudo
4th Ave (btwn 9th + 10th st)

The Fast Cure

2011-02-01T22:51:00.002-05:00

Curry In A Hurry is an instant hangover cure. As well as the perfect snack while you are on the go. I was on my way to an appointment over in Curry Hill and I needed a quick energy refuel. I popped in and popped a few little fried delights in my mouth. I tried a daal bhajia, a veggie pakora and a chicken samosa. All delicious! Can't wait to go back to actually try the curry.

Curry In A Hurry
119 Lexington Avenue (at 28th)
New York, NY
(212) 683-0900

Brindle Burger Baby

2011-01-23T21:10:00.004-05:00

I've been a little burger crazy lately and therefore doing a little research to figure out what the best burger in the East Village is. I had the burger at Blk Mrkt a few weeks back and it was pretty awesome! I have yet to try the burger at Royale but I'm hoping to try it out soon. I've heard mixed things, but mostly positive. After being out way too late and way too many drinks the night before, I was in serious need of a juicy and delicious burger.

I found it at Brindle Room. I had been there once before for their duck confit poutine but I can't say that it was good enough to get me back there so soon. But that morning I read an article saying that the burger at Brindle Room was neck in neck with Back Forty as runner up for best burger in the EV. Boy they were right! It was delicious! Super juicy and crazy flavourful! I think it's WAY better than Back Forty. The chef explained to us that his partner ages the beef longer than usual and I think there's salt added to it or something, it's almost crispy yet extremely juicy on the inside. They serve it with caramelized onions on it and I added basic all american cheese to it (aka the hangover special) and boy did it ever do the trick! We gobbled it up and fought over the last bit even! We also tried the french toast, which was covered with caramelized bananas and nutella. Also delicious even thought sweets for breakfast isn't my thing. I'm looking forward to going back to try the shrimp and grits!

Brindle Room
277 East 10th Street
New York, NY
brindleroom.com

Sandwich in the City

2011-01-17T23:19:00.002-05:00

City Sandwich is all the rage right now. It was named one of the best hero bread in New York by Grub Street a few months back and now everyone is eating it up. Including us. Our office is located nearby so it makes for an easy delivery option. I've only tried it twice now and was semi-impressed. It's true that their combinations sound inciting and their homemade sausage and broccoli rabe is tasty, but it's just not amazing. I do want to try some of their egg sandwiches and their cod one too. The menu is all based on people names, probably their family and friends, which is super cute, and the menu is divided in 3 sections; meat, without meat, and egg-based. All colour-coded of course. The ingredients are fresh and the combinations are interesting so I'll have to try a few more to give a proper assessment. As for the bread, I prefer No.7's softer hero bread.

City Sandwich
649 9th Ave
New York, NY
(646)-684-3943
citysandwichnyc.com

Take the Metro North to Italy... I mean Westchester!

2011-01-17T00:06:00.006-05:00

In the quiet town of New Rochelle lies a simple family restaurant full of some of the best italian food around. The family is from Rome and they are dishing out some tasty albeit ugly peasant food. My boyfriend knows the owners sister and got us in there. The resto only seats 38 and it is always booked. Locals frequents this spot on a regular basis and keep it packed.

There's no menu so Rina will ask you if there's anything you don't eat and start the flow of food. It was great. She first brought us simple basic grilled bread... from heaven! I don't know what is on that bread but it was amazing. Simple olive oil that must have been soaked in garlic. It comes garnished with a single clove of raw garlic on a stick that you are meant to rub all over the bread before eating. She then brought out 2 other appetizers (the size of entrees); eggplant parmiggiano and fagioli al pomodoro. Both excellent. Simple roma tomotoes bring these dishes to life. The sauce was perfect and the fagioli dish was great and have a slick kick to it! We then shared a pasta, which was a Mushroom Carbonara, but without the cream. So it was nice and light. All the dishes were simple and you could taste all the ingredients. It was great. The wine was good, I tried their own bottle that they just finished producing. We got a bottle to bring home too. We ended on a piece of tiramisu, which was not the prettiest one you've ever seen. Rina told me that her tiramisu is often called ugly but she doesn't care. Neither did we. We loved the ugly and extremely tasty tiramisu. I left feeling part of the family and can hardly wait to go back again.

One note, I recommend going on the early side (you need to reserve ahead btw) because the last trains out of New Rochelle are 10:30pm then midnight, nothing in between and nothing after.

Spadaro
211 Main Street
New Rochelle
(914) 235-4595
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/nyregion/westchester/17dinewe.html

Soba That Warms Your Heart

2010-12-05T23:30:00.003-05:00

Not only is this new soba joint "heartwarming", it's in the heart of the LES. Cocoron, which means "heartwarming" in Japanese, has just opened its doors 3 days ago and already bustling with people looking to warm up on hot healthy noodles. It comes in the nick of time as the temperature drops to freezing this weekend. I had read about it on Wednesday and was dying to try. It was great!

It's a tiny spot, so it will surely get busy and be hard to get a seat especially on weekends. The food was very good. They have a great selection of appetizers of which we tried the tamagoyaki and the daikon salad. The tamagoyaki was nice and juicy in a messy homestyle kind of way that I loved. The daikon salad was great! there was sliced shiso in it which gave it such a unique and even fresher taste! They have a great and varied selection of soba. Two pages of cold sobas and one page of warm. They were all prepared differently and were great! The soba comes in 2 sizes which is great, regular and large. I tried the yuba hot soba (because as you all know yuba is one of my favourite things!) The chicken hot soba which was served in a separate cooking pot and the noodles get dipped into the hot broth (like zaru soba style) The zaru soba was standard but good and had that slimy texture that is typical of zaru. Noodles were al dente, however I could have had mine a little firmer but I noticed the noodles on the cold zaru soba were firmer.

The space is super cute and it was great sitting at the bar watching them make our food. I'm looking forward to going back to try the sesame soba which they were out of tonight. So far, they are cash only, and do not have any alcohol yet... which I didn't miss at all with the amazing soba tea they are serving (pictured here) It was one of the best cups of tea I've had in a while. We all recieved a gift for their appreciation of us coming for their opening weekend. They are so cute, the menu and all their signage is super cute animated characters and they even have a health chart in their menu with the breakdown of the health benefit of each dish. I loved it!

Cocoron
61 Delancey St. (nr. Allen)
New York, NY

An Epic Feast

2010-11-29T00:01:00.004-05:00

I always love thanksgiving here in the U.S. because it's really a time of coming together for me and my friends. I think it's often because many of us are foreign and don't have our family around us so we all bond together as our own family here in New York. This is only my second Thanksgiving here in NY and once again it was so wonderful. The lovely Nicole made a wonderful turkey (with a very special rub on it) I can't say what exactly was rubbed onto that bird but it was slightly spicy and delicious! My leftovers, which I've been eating since Thursday, are just as tasty! Shawnelle brought over some very exciting sides! One was a cauliflower puree, to replace potatoes, and they were define! I'd take those over potatoes any day! She also made an awesome creamed spinach with manchego! It was very addictive, I couldn't stop eating it! Sarra put her touch on everything, especially the idea to add baby artichokes and biscuits to the menu, which was such a nice treat and looked beautiful on the plate. She also made a lovely dessert. It was a really special and delicious meal. We then passed out around the apartment from all the wine and turkey. It was just as it should be.

A Little Duck With Your Poutine?

2010-11-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

I read about this poutine a few months ago in the best things to eat in NY Magazine's top things to eat in NY this year. Since I'm Canadian finding good poutine at all in New York is a challenge. I was sure the chef must be Canadian. But turns out he's not, I'm not even sure he's been to Canada. He's from Oklahoma and although he told us he is experimenting with a few different types of cuisine, he seems partial to French. Jeremy, the chef was really sweet and came out to say hello and offered us a great tasting menu option. Sadly most of us were hungry enough for that and it after all it was really just a Duck Poutine Party. I had decided to organize it as such with about 10 of my closest foodie friends and it was a huge success! We did it on a cold quiet Sunday night, so the tiny restaurant was all ours! They had great sangria, mulled wine, and salads and starters... the beet and kale salads were both great. The Moules et Frites were also excellent, he had one of his assistant chefs, who is mexican, throw in some of his own spice, which really gave it a whole other dimension from the traditional french dish.

The Poutine itself was topped with duck confit. The cheese were made with cheddar curds, which apparently I leaned are meltier than the typical Quebecois type. The taste was also slightly stronger. The gravy was nothing like traditional poutine gravy, it was thin and more like a "jus". It actually seems appropriate in this case though because the taste of the duck is heavy and can overpower the dish, so I can't imagine a heavier gravy on it. So although this poutine was nothing like the poutine I grew up with, it was great and very tasty! It's a sweet little place and I'm looking forward to trying more on the menu. Chef Jeremy told us he will be starting a fresh donuts and individually-brewed coffee in the mornings very soon.

Brindle Room
277 East 10th Street
New York, NY
(212) 529-9702
brindleroom.com

Oh Oh Oden!

2010-11-28T21:58:00.003-05:00

Oden is one of my favourite japanese dishes. It's extremely healthy and really reminds me both of Vancouver and of course, Japan. I was delighted to find it on Ippudo's menu last week. I asked of course if this is a new addition and it is. It will only be available for the winter season. Since it's probably not a popular dish there, they don't give all the options normally offered with a typical oden experience but none the less, the broth was dead on, and the two different types of fish cake in the dish were pretty amazing and no doubt freshly-made there. There was a large wonderful daikon piece and some interesting slimy yet crunchy noodles on the side. It came as it should with mustard on the side that you add to flavour the broth to your taste. I was so happy. I must add this was the first time that I didn't eat ramen at Ippudo! (which was hard) but time to branch out and get healthy before the holiday season :) ohh and btw, the wait is still over 2 hours on a Saturday night! (of course not with the black card :)

Ippudo
65 4th Avenue
New York, NY
(212) 388-0088

Get Jigae!

2010-11-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

The winter to me is all about Kimchi Jigae!... and Shabu Shabu... but that's later this week :) Korean food has always been one of my favourites and there's nothing quite like a boiling bowl of Kimchi Jigae or Tofu Soon Doobu. This is actually Soon Doobu, but it's got a lot of kimchi in it, and just has a slightly thicker consistency than the jigae they make here. It sort of depends were you go. Other spots I love in K-town made their jigae a little thicker and some are too thin sometimes. This spot is known for their soft tofu so it's a good bet to order something with tofu in it. I've always loved this resto because there's tons of koreans (good sign) but also a nice mix of non-koreans. It has a nice casual atmosphere unlike some of the other fancier and often over-priced spots. We also had the dolsop bim bim bop... although one of my favourites. I love it when it all gets crunchy on the bottom!

Seoul Garden Natural Tofu
34 West 32nd St # 2 (second floor)
New York, NY

Where Scotland Meets France

2010-11-18T23:28:00.005-05:00

Mary Queen of Scot is fresh on the scene and for being open now for only 2 weeks, it's doing quite well. The space was home to Allen & Delancey which closed suddenly, but the interior has been completely redone and it looks quite beautiful inside. It has a homie feel but still has a certain elegance. We started out with a drink at the bar, which is great and sits in the middle between the front and back of the restaurant. The bar tenders are Freemans (amoung other favourites) alumni so the drinks are great.

It's Scottish-French cuisine was tasty and we ordered a variety of appetizers and mains to try. The oysters were tasty, the salmon was great, but my favourite thing was this dessert. And for those of you that know me, I'm not even that big on desserts : It was a chocolate espresso ganache, with salt and it had a scoop of whiskey ice cream on the side. Basically the server told me that it tasted like jet fuel so of course I had to try it! It had the strangest but most interesting smokey taste, with in combination with the very bitter chocolate and salt, to my surprise was wonderful! All in all it's a good restaurant with a nice ambiance and unusual combinations and flavours for dessert!

One thing to not is that they listed "Pietmontese" beef on the menu (spelt wrong I must add) Apparently these cows are italian but raised in Montana. I don't get it, where's the French or Scottish in that? I'l have to go try next time to make a proper assessment. We had a nice big table and it was a great place to wine and dine with friends and catch up.

Mary Queen of Scots
Allen & Delancey
New York, NY

Chinatown Escapade

2010-11-14T22:47:00.002-05:00

Nothing like a relaxing Sunday in Chinatown. It starts with a very late dim sum party with friends. The whole crew came out and we wined (yes white wine to precise) and dined for hours. A few of us then strolled the lively streets of Chinatown and picked up a wonderful vietnamese coffee at the local favourite spot, Cong Ly. That place is dirty and amazing, but the guy took such care in making our coffees. It was just the jolt we needed before strolling into Lucky... something, on Christye street. Nicholas needed his favourite mapo tofu, so he picked it up to go. I checked out the hanging ducks and the fish in the back, that were staring at me in a very special way :) I love it! I could do that every Sunday. It's so raw and real there. Kind of the essence of New York really. I love New York.

Matt's Melons

2010-11-14T22:04:00.001-05:00

I had to post this image because its so beautiful. My friend Matt in San Francisco is both an industrial designer and a wonderful cook. He has an eye and a taste for the best. He has been cooking up a storm lately so I had to share. These are some winter melons he found a the local farmers market in SF. I just love the colour and the texture of them. Make me happy and hungry!

A Rocking Rollicking Red

2010-11-14T21:57:00.000-05:00

My favourite wine store is Warehouse Wines on Broadway and my man there, Dennis has NEVER failed me. He recommended this great wine the other day. I would have never picked it up, for obvious aesthetic reasons... but he was so excited about it, I had to try. It's great and juicy with a slight spice. Give it a try if you have the chance. Something like $7 there, worth probably about $15.

Lobster Love

2010-11-01T23:57:00.005-04:00

I've been a big lobster roll fan in recent years but I'm by no means a connoisseur. I think Luke's is yummy and I love popping in there for a snack on the go. This was totally different, this was a sit down intense lobster roll experience! Ed's is super cute, it's new on the scene but already packed on a Friday night, we waited a good half hour to 45 minutes to sit down for 3 of us. We each got a lobster roll plate, which comes with naughty fries and AMAZING pickles! The lobster roll itself was insane and HUGE! of course I can't even tell you what the price was, but something hefty at market price. There was a lot of meat stuffed in that bun, which was dipped in butter and was heavenly. It should be illegal. I somehow managed to devour the entire thing little by little. It was worth every bite! We also shared a lovely round of oysters to start, the Beau Soleil's were particularly delicious! It was all excellent and can hardly wait to go back!

Ed's Lobster Bar
222 Lafayette Street
New York, NY

The New Taco in Town

2010-10-24T16:56:00.003-04:00

This was a nice little discovery today on my walk home through Nolita. This new taco spot must have just opened because they don't even have their credit card machine running yet (although cash only is so common so it was no problem) It's a big open space like a garage with a vw van parked inside serving up some yummy tacos. The process is funny, you go in to where the juices are and buy a ticket, then take your tickets to either the taco van or the back kitchen where they are making breakfast tacos all day! They are $4 a pop and make the perfect post or pre-shopping snack. I really wanted to try the pescado but he couldn't guarantee that there wasn't any avocado in it so I steared clear! I got the pork instead and it was quite delicious and good looking! The portions are generous, all I needed was one to keep me going. I hope to back and try more soon! I hear the pescado and the chorizo breakfast taco are good. And the best part is they are open till 2am!

Fonda Nolita
267 Elizabeth Street (btwn Prince + Houston)
New York, NY

Vive La France!

2010-10-19T00:02:00.004-04:00

This new spot is among my favourites right now. It's the perfect touch of french flavour while you are busy shopping around Soho. Conveniently located in Nolita, it's the perfect go to spot on any occasion. I took my girl Anna Lisa there for a mid-week pre-shopping lunch. This resto, which is named after the Tartine, of course has a very extensive menu of Tartines. We shared a Croque Madame and another Tartine with goat cheese, honey and frisée. It was perfect! I enjoyed that with a very civilized glass of Sancerre while listenned to all the French being spoken around me by both the staff and the customers. It was my kind of afternoon. Any chance I get to feel like I've been transported to Paris... works for me. Salut!

Tartinery
209 Mulberry Street ( nr Spring St)
New York, NY

I Scream For Yuba

2010-10-18T23:55:00.002-04:00

I LOVE LOVE yuba, which is tofu skin. I found this new favourite on the menu at Sobakoh. It's the perfect light and healthy dish on a cold night. Everything is good at Sobakoh but obviously they specialize in soba so it's definitely my go to spot for soba.

Sobakoh
7th street, nr 2nd Ave

We Love Elsa

2010-10-18T23:44:00.003-04:00

Elsa is one of our favourite neighbourhood bars. My girl Sarra lives across the street so it's so convenient. It's "usually' filled with cool local East Village cool peoples, I say that without the "weekend" disclaimer, the weekend draws often an unexpected crowd. Weekday you are safe to go to Elsa and find a great vibe. The drinks are fantastic and not too expensive. I love their Pimm's Cup and their Dark & Stormy... and actually pretty much any drink on the menu! My recent favourite is their Tequila Old Fashioned. Amazing!

Elsa
217 E 3rd St. (btwn Ave B + C)
New York, NY

Peels Gets a Hooray!

2010-10-18T23:21:00.005-04:00

Peels is the latest and greatest brunch spot in the East Village. Same owners as Freemans, these people know what they are doing. They are serving up some heavy, yet yummy grub. We went the first time on a weekend brunch and sat at the communal table (the upstairs wasn't open yet) and although it was a bit of a wait and brunch was eaten on free-standing stools it was still good. The upstairs is now open and much more comfortable. They have both booths and proper tables upstairs. The food is yummy. We tried a variety of stuff, from fried eggs with pulled pork and cornbread, poached eggs over succotash, pancakes and their version of a monte cristo! Their bacon is ridiculously delicious and their biscuits are excellent. They even have a build-your-own-biscuit program! My kind of place!

Peels
325 Bowery (Corner of 2nd St.)
New York, NY
peelsnyc.com

Fashion Week Water

2010-09-18T00:00:00.005-04:00

This week during NY Fashion Week Motorino was serving a the special edition Missioni bottles of San Pellegrino. The bottle is beautifully wrapped in a Missioni-esque pattern. It was the perfect addition to our Fashion Night Out's pizza dinner! I need to find out where I can buy some.

Soup Dumplings from Heaven

2010-09-17T23:49:00.000-04:00

Ever since I moved to New York I have wanted to go to Flushing to explore and enjoy the amazing asian food there, and finally I made it! I had other business along the 7 train and so this time there was no excuse. It was everything I could have imagined, it felt like Vancouver (but not as clean) but I felt right at home! I am a big soup dumpling fan, and frequent all the decent spots in the city but this I had heard was the ultimate and it was great! The soup was rich enough and perfect temperature, that point right before it burns your tongue. We tried some other fun stuff; fried pork buns, cucumber salad and wontons in spicy sauce, which were amazing! Can't wait to go back in the winter, which is official soup dumpling season!

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao
38-12 Prince Street
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 321-3838

Some Like it Shaved

2010-09-17T23:46:00.003-04:00

The food court at the Flushing Mall is fantastic! I could spend all day there. Sadly we were too stuffed with juicy dumplings to try any other food but there was some of the most amazing looking food spots, taiwanese specialities, korean bbq, hand-pulled noodles on and on it goes... but we did have room for something a little sweet. This was no ordinary shaved ice. It was huge! We got all the jelly fruit fixings and tapioca pearls, there were so many! And then they drizzled condensed milk all over it, it was delicious and super refreshing!

Fresh From Nova Scotia

2010-09-17T23:14:00.002-04:00

My girl Sarra went to Nova Scotia over Labour Day long weekend and brought me back a gift unique to Novia Scotia, bluberry syrup! I must be the worst Canadian... I've never been to Novia Scotia and I've never even heard of blueberry syrup! I love it, I've been having it in the mornings over greek yogurt and almonds, sometimes with granola. I'm looking forward to having it over home-made pancakes.

Vancouver Special: Nothing Little about this Taste!

2010-09-15T15:20:00.002-04:00

The spring rolls and this chicken pho from Au Petit Café in Vancouver is hands down the best I've ever had! The chicken is marinated in lemongrass and bursting with flavour! The spring rolls were insane, I could stop eating them! The owner is this super cute old man who spoke french with us, he was adorable. I can't wait to go back home in December for more! I think it's gonna be my first stop from the airport!

Au Petit Café
4851 Main Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 873-3328

Biscuits and Bacon Baby!

2010-08-26T00:02:00.003-04:00

I had been to Back Forty a few months ago and loved it but I have no idea why it's taken me so long to go back. It's delicious!
That said it's not the lightest lunch on the block but it hit the spot that morning.... or actually afternoon. I had the most amazing cocktail, the Black and Red, which is fresh strawberries and tequila with a black pepper sugared rim, it was stellar! For food we tried the corn pancakes, which were ridiculous I have to say! Their texture was unlike anything I've ever had. They were topped with some serious bacon and smokey bacon infused glaze (sort of syrup) on top! The burger is a staple there, good. The biscuits are nice too, a bit more of that dry (scone almost) kind and Clarence got especially nostalgic because his grandmother's used to make ones that were very similar. All in all a rockin brunch, we sat out in their back garden which was really private and casual.

Back Forty
190 Avenue B (nr 12th)
New York, NY
(212) 388-1990
backfortynyc.com

Rooftop Burgers

2010-08-25T23:55:00.005-04:00

We BBQ-ed on my rooftop with my new mini BBQ from Target... it's so cute and we were desperate to try it out! It started to ran so we had to fix our burgers under the table. so sad :( Brian, my very tall neighbour, helped out with grillin'... the burger looks so tiny compared to him :) and Jesse came over to join us in the eating festivities! Hopefully the weather clears up and gets warm again so I can do a proper BBQ before the summer ends!

Beer and Pretzels!

2010-08-16T22:02:00.002-04:00

Nothing like a cold beer and a giant pretzel after work on a hot summer day! that's how we celebrated last week after a long day at the office... The pretzels are huge, chewy and delicious! The beer looked great, although I had a few glasses of Sancerre instead ;) They have a bunch of sausages too, none of which I found to be amazing... I guess the one stuffed with cheese was the tastiest of them all. Luckily it was early in the week so the crowd wasn't too terrible, but I can only imagine it on a weekend. Stick to weekdays is my recommendation.

The Standard Biergarden
at the Standard Hotel
848 Washington St.
New York, NY

It's All About The Trout!

2010-08-16T21:55:00.002-04:00

I've been obsessively eating at Westville Chelsea, since it's delicious and close by our new office. I had to throw up this salad since I'm in love with it. It's the almond-crusted trout over greens... perfect light and healthy meal with yummy roasted almonds with fresh lemon! Federico's chicken salad was pretty kick ass too. I tried the all natural beef Niman Ranch hot dog the other day and I almost died it was so good. Make sure to order that puppy with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on top!

Westville Chelsea
246 W 18th St (btwn 7th + 8th)
New York, NY
(212) 924-2223

Oh My!

2010-08-13T11:01:00.008-04:00

So the place I am working at moved offices last week and we have been exploring the neighbourhood. I finally had the chance to try Omai, this Vietnamese resto that I've had my eye on for a while now. It's now officially my favourite spot for beef Pho! That being said, it's not cheap but rather a higher end, high end ingredients kind of Chelsea spot. Lunch luckily is a bit cheaper, but still miles away from the idea of a cheap bowl of pho! All in all I LOVE it, and I intend to go at least every week while I'm in the hood. The ambiance of the place is sirene and it's more like you're in a spa getting a massage that a restaurant for lunch. All the fresh rolls and appertizers were great. The beef Pho, was insane! I honestly haven't had a bowl this tasty in my 3 years in NY! The cold bun was wonderful. Basically everything we ordered was good! Guess that's the reason it gets a critic's pick on NY magazine's website.

Omai
158 9th Avenue (nr 20th st)
New York, NY
(212) 633-0550

The Sweet Taste of Summer

2010-08-03T17:46:00.000-04:00

Summer in New York is so amazing. It's hot and wonderful and perfect for outdoor BBQs. Our boy Mario celebrated his birthday in McCarren Park in Williamsburg and it was the perfect Sunday afternoon. There were yummy burgers, cooked by Julien (as usual) and lots of drinks and snacks. We busted out the hula hoops and laid out on the grass. Happy Birthday Mario! I'm looking forward to BBQs all summer long!

Serious Szechuan

2010-08-03T17:29:00.005-04:00

Last week we got a crew of us together at work and heading up on the train to midtown to experience some serious Szechuan food. It was insane and so delicious! It's pretty busy at lunchtime so we had to book a big table for us all. The food was so good and spicy! We tried great stuff, the dan dan noodles, a sea bass dish, classic mapo tofu, a beef and chicken dish and these read dumplings to start. I can't wait to go back for more! And at the end of the meal, we all ate a Szechuan Pepper, (pictured here in the bowl) and it was seriously a life-changing experience. If you haven't tried one, I highly recommend it. It's like nothing I've ever tasted and it left us all stumbling back to work and a bit high... can't explain it!

Szechuan Gourmet
21 W 39th St, New York 10018
(Btwn 5th & 6th Ave)

One Love

2010-08-02T17:24:00.002-04:00

Nike threw a street party called 1-Love this weekend to celebrate some shoe launch at their Sportswear store in Soho. It was pretty nuts, free BBQ from Hillcountry. So enjoyed some ribs and a taste of their famous sides. There was also free beer and ice cream. Lots of people filled the block of Mercer between Canal and Grand. The food was tasty and the music was bumpin'!

All Meat, Less Bun!

2010-08-02T16:24:00.005-04:00

The burger at Westville has always been pretty famous. I frequent the East Village location from time to time but the cramped environment always bugged me. The newest Westville just opened a few months ago in Chelsea and it's great! It's more modern and spacious, with a eat-in bar and big windows in front. The best news is that is it located on the same street as our new office, so it's bound to be my every other day spot :) I had never their buger but last week I went with a friend and we both had it. It was awesome! Make sure to get it medium rare for full juiciness. The bun is the special part, it's on a Portuguese muffin, which is really too thin for the thick patty, but the challenge is to eat it fast enough before if falls apart! It's delicious! I can't wait to go back this week! Their vegetables and salads are great too.

Westville
246 W 18th St (btwn 7th + 8th ave)
New York, NY
(212) 924-2223

A Taste of Flushing in the East Village!

2010-07-12T07:58:00.003-04:00

I was all too excited to find out that there is finally some serious authentic Chinese food in the east village! This famous hand-pulled noodle shop is food from the Xi'an region of China and is unlike anything I've had before. The food has unusual spices and is said to almost taste Arabic in flavour. Their original shop is in Queens and they had recently opened their first Manhattan location in Chinatown a while back, and now this East Village post! I got a few recommendations as to what to order a few days ago as well as obsessively watching all the videos on their website... so i was all too excited to try it! The space is small and I didn't have the time to sit yesterday so I took it to go, which was still great! I tried one of their most famous dishes, the Liang Pi Cold Skin Noodles and it was delicious!! You can have it spicy or not, but of course spicy was great.. lots of chili oil! I can't wait to go back and try to Lamb Spine, which I heard can be a life-changing experience!

Xi'an Famous Foods
81 St Mark's Pl (between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave)
Manhattan, NY
(212) 786-2068
xianfoods.com

Cool Off at Hester Street Fair

2010-07-05T22:18:00.007-04:00

New York was hot as hell this weekend and we finally found some relief under the shade at Hester Street Fair in the lower east side. My girl Suchin organizing this awesome event every week and invites her favourite local restaurants and store owners to participate. We spent a few hours there, snacking on all the yummy food and even did a bit of great vintage shopping! Luke's lobster rolls from the east village were there representing, along with An Choi....yah! So of course had to have both! There's was an awesome Japanese bbq stand, and a pulled pork sandwich station. There was a kimchi hotdog booth, which Suchin is chowing down on here ;) I couldn't find room for that as well, sadly... next week! These empanada boyz are serving up my new favourite lemonade, which is made fresh with mint and cucumber! Although the food was great, our biggest obsession was these homemade Mexican popsicles. They are all made with fresh fruit and are insanely delicious! We tried the watermelon, strawberry and the Tamarindo (with chili spices on top!) There were so many flavours that I can't wait to go back and try them all! It was the perfect thing to cool us down on this horribly hot day.

Hester Street Fair
Intersection of Hester Street and Essex Street
New York, NY
hesterstreetfair.com

Summer Soba

2010-07-05T21:48:00.001-04:00

Zaru soba is the perfect dinner during the hot New York summer. It's healthy and light and satisfies that craving for noodles! It's really easy to make; just cook soba noodles, drain and chill with cold water. Then buy and pour soba shoyu broth in a bowl and add freshly ground sesame and chopped green onions and DIP away!

Hot for Hummus, Mad for Mojito!

2010-07-05T21:12:00.004-04:00

Hummus Place is a local favourite that I've been going to for years now, but I realized I don't think I've ever blogged about it. It's low key, cheap and has great consistent food. The menu is very small and simple and there is no meat to be found anywhere. This very israeli establishment is a favourite in the east village and also full, but never a wait. It's wonderful to order as take away or delivery too. I also get the same things on the menu, the hummus fava (with has a lovely hard boiled egg in the center), the shashuka, which is stewed tomatoes, with eggs and halumi baked into it. Halumi is an amazing sheep's cheese with a very distinct and wonderful flavour. Then I also love to add the falafel and labne sides.

The new discover this time however was the very AMAZING mojito! It was super special with the mint completely blended with the ice into a super smooth think slushie. It's done with Anise wine, which is an Israeli speciality apparently. They also have a variety of tasty fruit juices from Israel. It was so so wonderful on a very hot New York summer's night.

Hummus Place
109 Saint Mark's Pl (btwn 1st Ave. and Ave. A)
New York, NY
hummusplace.com

Death by Cocktail

2010-07-05T21:10:00.003-04:00

All this time living in the East Village and I've never officially had a drink at Death & Company. So finally we sat down to a few very wonderful cocktails! Our girl Nikki started working there and she took good care of us with some great recommendations. I can't even remember what I ordered or which one this photo is of, but they were both amazing and so refreshing! I was most impressed with the quality of the cocktails. I can't vouch for the food since I didn't try anything. I'd imagine stick to drinks.

Death & Co.
433 East 6th Street
New York, NY
(212) 388-0882

Saks Snack

2010-07-05T21:04:00.000-04:00

It's easy to build up an appetite shopping for shoes at Saks Fifth Avenue so we stopped for a little mid-day lunch so we could refuel for the next few floors ahead of us. There's a little café on the 5th Floor which was especially convenient since that's my favourite floor :) We tried a few different sandwiches and they were all quite yummy... not to mention mini-sized, which I love!

SnAKS at Saks Fifth Avenue
611 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
Manhattan, NY 10022

Butter Me Up Baby!

2010-07-05T21:02:00.000-04:00

My girl Sarra brought me back some tasty Apple butter from Bermuda. She went there on holiday and knew that I would love to enjoy a taste of the local food there! So far I've only tried it on toast in the morning and it was yummy!

The Yuzu Touch

2010-06-28T23:41:00.005-04:00

It's been so hot in New York that all I want to eat is sushi. Having being spoiled by growing up in Vancouver, it's hard to justify the typical sushi prices in the city and so I'll take it any which way I can get. That's why Sunrise Market is great. It's truly Japanese and support the entire Japanese community here in Manhattan.

They have sushi, among other prepared meals available as take away. It's definitely the cheapest way to eat sushi in New York! I also bought this amazing tofu there. It's from Hokkaido and I've actually bought it in Japan! My friends there introduced me to it one time at Takeshimaya in Niko-Tama a few year back! It's so exciting to see it make it's way to NYC! It's so delicious and tastes pretty much like dessert, super fresh! I topped it off with the featured ingredient of this post... Yuzu-kosho! As you all probably already know, I love Yuzu taste. It's great with chicken especially but it can be used in soups, on tofu, and I get a little crazy and mix it with shoyu (soy sauce) instead of wasabi for dipping my sushi! It's not ideal for tuna but its great for the salmon! It adds a lovely citrus taste.

Unfortunately you can not buy the yuzu-kosho at Sunrise. This little jem of a jar comes from Japan, it was a gift from a friend of mine there. I use it sparingly but try to experiment with it on food as much as possible!

NIgiri Sushi and Tofu (from Hokkaido) can both be purchased at Sunrise.

Sunrise Mart
29 3rd Ave (between 10th St & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY

No More Wait for Ramen!

2010-06-18T16:17:00.004-04:00

All my trips to Ippudo have finally paid off! I was WAY TOO excited to receive my "Black Card" this week at Ippudo. The manager, named Lighting, very officially presented me with the Black Card. I had been told that I was getting one but I hadn't been into the restaurant in a few weeks. The important thing is that the Black Card means NO MORE WAITING. The lineup at Ippudo on ANY given night is about 2 hours these days, it's crazy. You present the card when you come in and they slip you in as soon as possible. Now that's customer appreciation at it's best! I have been getting black card perks already there for some time but it's nice to be official. The card also allows you to get any toppings on your ramen for FREE and also there's a few other small special perks included too!

Ippudo Ny
65 4th Avenue (nr 10th st)
New York, NY
(212) 388-0088
ippudo.com

"En"dulge

2010-06-18T00:51:00.007-04:00

En is a restaurant that I have been wanting to try for a while now. It always sounded great but it was WAY over on the west side, not usually where you find the authentic Japanese restos... so I never made much effort to try it. My girl Momo-chan wanted to take me there as a treat so of course I was SO excited to try it! It was awesome. We had some lovely starters Kyoto-style... including a wonderful daikon-grilled buya dish and hijiki salad.. all so yummy. The highlight however was the agedashi-dofu... they do this crazy... almost "wrong" (but so right) version of agedashi-dofu... basically fried tofu... one white tofu and one black sesame tofu, but oosing with soft creamy tofu on the inside. It's more of a dessert really. It's way TOO good. We also tried the black miso cod, also ridiculously yummy and some dessert. It was kind of an over-indulgent dinner but wonderful! I want to go back and try their tasting menu!

EN Japanese Brasserie
435 Hudson Street (at leroy)
New York NY
enjb.com

An Austrian Afternoon

2010-06-17T10:58:00.009-04:00

It was a delightful Sunday afternoon of visiting the MET with friends which ended nicely a lovely brunch Viennese-style at Café Sabarsky. This lovely café is inside the Austrian Museum called Neue Galerie and feels like an old tea room. I could have stayed all afternoon. The food was great. Portions and nice and manageable and you can enjoy a started salad and dessert even! I had the classic Wiener Schnitzel which was excellent and some of the frisée salad. The bratwurst was also delicious. It all went so nicely with my glass of perfectly chilled Austrian white wine. We ended on a sinful piece of chocolate cake called the Klimttorte and an Viennese-style espresso served in a classic silver tray. I really enjoyed and look forward to trying more on the menu next time.

Café Sabarsky
1048 5th Avenue (nr. 86th St)
New York, NY
(212) 288-0665
cafesabarsky.com

Respect for Nature

2010-06-09T21:51:00.008-04:00

One of the fundamental ideas behind Japanese cuisine and food culture is the idea of respecting nature. Kajitsu was a truly Zen experience and I can hardly wait to tell you about it. Itadakimasu! (which literarly translates to "thank you earth for this food")

Chef Hirata took me for an amazing dinner at Kajitsu! I have been dying to try it since I discovered it almost 6 months and it was more special than I could have imagined. It's one of my favourite experiences so far in New York. The food is all vegetarian, and is based on an old style of Japanese cooking from Kyoto called Shojin-ryori. All the dishes were so unique, so delicate and so careful considered.

There are two options for their prix fixe menu, one a 4-course for $50 and the other a 8-course for $70. Of course we got the 8-course! The menu changes monthly to reflect the seasonal vegetables and the dishes we were served were chilled and incorporated a lot of asparagus, shiso and yuku, basically those things being some of my favourite tastes! This candied plum was soaked in a special sugar water for 2 days! The taste of all the food was remarkably strong for a vegan menu. The ingredients were used to their fullest potential. They served a homemade chilled soba with okra and shiso which was incredible. I was pretty much blown away over all. The ambiance is very simple and minimal and there's nothing fancy about the place. In typical Japanese style everything is intentional and nothing is wasted.

The sake was wonderful and they served the new flush of tea from Japan called Shincha. They are only serving this tea this month because of the season that doesn't last long. The first flush is bright green and there's nothing quite like it. I was just in Japan a month ago and in particular I was in Shizuoka where they produce some of the country's best green tea and it's even special to get Shincha there!

Kajitsu
414 9th street (btwn 1st Ave + Ave A)
kajitsunyc.com

Farm Fresh

2010-05-25T22:14:00.008-04:00

This entry has taken me a while to post so I apologize for the delay. It was something we planned for almost 3 months! Our dear friend and intern Sofia is leaving back to Portugal and so we wanted to do something special together before she left New York. We, all being foodies, agreed that a trip to Blue Hill Stone Barns was in order. It's about an hour drive from the city in a place called Tarrytown. We decided to do lunch, which is a 4 course menu, because the price is good and it was easier to book than dinner. They typically fill up month in advance.

It was truly an unique eating experience. The menu is unknown and is dictated both by the season and the choice of the chef. The chef designs the menu each table's menu uniquely. So what is fascinating is that you might be eating something completely different than the table next to you. It was wonderful! The service is impeccable and the food of course is nothing short of amazing and very very fresh. Inside the menu there's a list of all the fresh ingredients that day and your menu could be composed on any of them.

I haven't shown all the dishes but it give you an idea of the experience. We began with cocktails, which we just couldn't resist. They were all so unique and wonderful. I tried a their margarita which was made with "sorel", which is apparently a very under-appreciated herb, the server explained. She is brought me a taste of the pure sorel juice to sample. Frances had a dry martini with pickled ramps which was also so special.

We began with some great little starters, the one shown here was a lovely asparagus soup with vegetable marmalade that you spread onto a warm sweet brioche. Then there was this poached egg, which was served in this beautiful glass and almost made me think of "chawan-mushi" which is one of my favourite japanese dishes. There were lovely little mushrooms, vegetables, and nuts even inside this half-cooked egg dish which was sealed with rice paper infused with flowers. It was so beautiful and fun to stab into. The main dish was a really great pork dish, thinly sliced organic pork with a curry lentil sauce. It was the perfect consistency and balance of flavours. We all finished every last drop of sauce! We ended on a wonderful cheese plate, featuring locally-made cheeses. The dessert was great, fromage blanc ice cream and rhubarb with fried ricotta dumplings! I'm a big fan of slightly savory desserts.

The farm itself is so beautiful and well kept and the restaurant is located inside this square. There is a small café and another gift shop where you can buy fresh eggs and local products from Blue Hill. The concept is that all or most of the food served in the restaurant is all grown on the farm. The vegetables, the cheese, the meat, everything! I think the only things they bring in is seafood. So it's wonderful to go visit the greenhouse and the animals in the farm. We had such a wonderful time. I can't wait to go back for dinner!

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
bluehillfarm.com

Five Stars for Five Points

2010-04-19T00:38:00.005-04:00

I finally had brunch at Five Points and it was really amazing! My girl Minh is my foodie partner in crime and we love to wine and dine together.... it was so nice to finally do a nice brunch together! We shared two amazing dishes. The first was their special polenta with caramelized artichokes and a fried eggs one top, it was heavenly! We also tried this salmon with poached eggs over this fluffy puff pastry. We ended on the churros, dipped in mexican hot chocolate which was super naughty but worth it. The food was really good and their bloody mary's were SO strong. I was literarily drunk half way through it! I might have to go back next weekend!

Five Points
31 Great Jones Street
New York, NY

Bangin' Biscuits!

2010-03-28T23:43:00.005-04:00

After hours of waiting we finally got into Clinton Street Bakery on a Saturday for brunch! The wait is the only reason that I haven't been back there in probably over 5 years, it's really ridiculous! That said it IS worth it. The food is very good and the vibe, once inside, is mellow. We ate WAY too much, each ordering our own breakfast as well as an order of french toast for the table. Their buttermilk biscuits, which come under their egg and Benny dishes (Smoked Salmon and Ham pictured here) are nice and buttery! The pancakes were really good and the french toast was amazing too! Their syrup is almost butterscotch flavoured and oozing with deliciousness! They have a variety of warm alcoholic drinks, which was a godsend this day because it was unusually cold, so I warmed up with an apple cider with rum which was spot on! It was a great brunch with old friends from San Francisco and it was everyone's else's first time there so they all left very full but very happy!

Clinton St. Baking Co.
4 Clinton Street (nr Houston)
New York, NY
(646) 602-6263
clintonstreetbaking.com

Some Kind of Wonderful... or Sub

2010-03-28T23:20:00.006-04:00

No.7 Sub is finally open! They opened their door a week ago and the line is already out the door by 12:30pm! I had heard that their freshly-made-on-the-premises-bread runs out fast so we headed there early and just beat the crowd. There were more sandwiches on the menu than the original preview menu which was a nice surprise. We decided to share a few different ones to get a proper sampling. The "General Tso" was great, the fried tofu was deliciously soft and the whole thing had a banh mi-ness to it, cilantro, pickled carrots... it was delicious! The "Broccoli" sandwich was a real surprise, it was made with simple steamed broccoli, fresh mozzarella, thai basil pesto and fried lemons. It was amazing and fresh... a truly unique taste! The "Roast Beef" was also really interesting, with pickled blueberries and korean Doenjang sauce on it! Their homemade Yuzu Hibicus Gingerale was amazing! I'm not really the type to care for a flavoured drink while eating but I loved it SO much that I plan to get it every time. It's not very sweet and has a strong ginger flavour.. and as you know Yuzu is my true love. So all in all I was impressed with No.7, the sandwiches were really good and unique tasting and the fresh bread was soft and yummy. I look forward to heading back for more. I plan to try the "Ceviche" and the "Hot & Sour Egg Salad" sandwiches next!

No.7 Sub
20 West 29th Street (at the Ace Hotel)
New York, NY
(212) 679-2222

Homestyle Udon

2010-03-25T23:52:00.008-04:00

Yoko was here this week visiting me from Tokyo and she made me some homemade chicken udon one night. It was amazing. I watched her every step so that I can recreate it on my own. She made a simple broth from soy sauce and a bit of soba sauce I had from before until taste was right, then the secret and most special ingredient was the gobo (burdock root) she grated and added to the soup. I love gobo, it's got such an amazing earthy taste and it's amazing for your digestive system! It was just what I needed that night and we ate Japanese style on the floor over a small low table. (and because I don't actually have a table ;) The special addition was the yuzu kosho, which is a citrus wasabi-like paste that is usally used with chicken and duck. I had been given this little jar from a friend in Tokyo last time I was there and I love any occasion to pull it out and use it! Yuzu is one of my favourite things in the world! Itadakimasu! いただきます！

Garden is Guud!

2010-03-03T23:48:00.006-05:00

The new Guu in Vancouver is open and it's really really good. All the Guu restaurants are good but I was especially into the food at Garden. I think it had some trouble getting going when it first opened but they are definitely up and running now. It's location is nice on the second floor, with a more modern and yet casual vibe to it. I really liked the feel and they have a lovely little japanese garden off to the side. We got the one little table right next to the garden, it was so nice. As for the food, the menu is similar to the other Guu's but seems to have more sushi and a whole Oden menu, which is amazing! Here's the duck oden pictured here. We ordered the classics, the tuna tataki and the salmon sashimi, which were both amazing! The ebi-mayo was also especially exceptional. I miss all the amazing Japanese food in Vancouver and always look forward to going back again.

Guu Garden
M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 899-0855

Artery Choking

2010-02-21T23:48:00.003-05:00

The creamy and oh-so-naughty artichoke pizza slice at Artichoke is the perfect thing to soak up all the alcohol after a long week and weekend of fashion week parties! It was Peter's first time here and he was most satisfied! Sky enjoyed a more modest margarita slice, but then gave in to half of our gooey slice, which was massive! It was about 3am and the place was packed with a line out the door! I would not recommend this pizza to connoisseurs who are looking for an authentic slice but do recommend it after heavy consumption of alcohol. It was delicious but feel like it took me a few days to recover!

Artichoke Basille's Pizza & Brewery
328 E 14th St (between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave)
New York, NY
(212) 228-2004
artichokepizza.com