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Catching up on the events of the past few weeks – it is crazy how fast life passes you by and summer turns into winter. The beginning of fall was filled with exciting happenings: friends visiting from out of town, discovering new areas of the city, and of course, enjoying a lot of great food.
First stop: I am now volunteering with Housing Works, and I helped out at the Tribeca Showtime house in September. The two penthouses were amazing and the designers did a great job with styling each room for each Showtime show. So this is what it feels like to be a millionaire:
I was also absolutely delighted that my friend M came all the way from Japan to visit! Mini Penn reunion at Shanghai Cafe – oldie but a goodie 
Rice Cakes
Dry Sauteed Green Beans
Whole Fish!
And finally, my friend H also had a work project in the city, and we celebrated by going to Chikalicious for some fabulous dessert and wine
Amuse: Melon sorbet with white chocolate mousse
Fresh Fig Creme Brulee with Lemonade Sorbet (paired with a lovely muscat wine)
Caramel Panna Cotta and Plum Sorbet (paired with moscato)
Petit Fours: Chocolate truffle, Peppercorn Shortbread, Coconut Marshmallow
Sigh … autumn in New York
Chikalicious 203 E. 10th St., New York, NY 10003
203 E. 10th St., New York, NY 10003
In August, one of my best friends from college visited the city for a week and I got the chance to show her all of my favorite places to eat in the city as well as try out a few new places! Our first stop was Porchetta – hands down one of my all time favorite sandwich shops. What I love about the Porchetta sandwich is its simplicity and depth of flavor, just meat and bread. The sandwich is perfectly proportioned and also wonderfully moist and savory.
After lunch we wandered about for a bit and each picked up some sweet things to satisfy our craving for dessert. First stop was Butter Lane, which makes the most amazing cupcakes with french buttercream frosting. N got the chocolate cake with vanilla bean frosting: a classic combination.
We also happened to walk by a Beard Papa’s – I have never had their cream puffs and have always wanted to try it. I think this is the first and last time that I will have Beard Papa’s … cute name, but their puffs are not so great. The choux pastry was crumbly and too dry, and the filling just tasted too sweet and artificial.
For a quick afternoon pick-me-up, I stopped by Joe the Art of Coffee in West Village to have a cappuccino. I always love when my cup of coffee comes with some lovely latte art – I’m excited to find more espresso shops to explore in the city!
Another one of my favorites in the village: the puppies!
One of the best things about living in the city (and worst things for my waistline) is how many restaurants are easily accessible by walking. In the mood for Thai, my friend F and I decided to meet on 9th ave to check out the selection. We ended up at Yum Yum – Yum Yum Bangkok, to be exact. I wonder who started Yum Yum and if they had originally worked for Starbucks … similar to the way I can find Starbucks right next to and across the street from each other in the city, there are THREE Yum Yums within a two block stretch on 9th ave! Yep … north from 45th you’ll see Yum Yum … Yum Yum … and Yum Yum Too!
Yum Yum Bangkok lived up to its name – that is, it was indeed yummy Nothing earth shattering or soul shaking, but a good meal to fill the belly.
Yum Yum Bangkok
650 9th Ave
It seems like when summer finally starts to settle in the city, I am always in a constant state of flux between being too cold or being too hot. At the office, it seems like we keep the ac set at least 50 degrees or below – I am always freezing! Which is precisely why after a day sitting huddled in my cold cube, I was craving a hot, thick bowl of tasty ramen soup. Ippudo definitely hit the right spot – I got the modern ramen with tonkatsu broth and miso. Absolutely delicious and the perfect thing to warm me up on a July evening My friend A was visiting from DC for the day, and it was a pleasant way to spend a Wednesday evening.
p.s. Their dessert was amazing too! Green tea ice cream with mascarpone cheese – an delicious and unexpected combo of flavors.
Best enjoyed with a good burger and great friends! I went to Boat Basin (on west 79th street) for M’s birthday this weekend… an experience that taught me that the only thing better than a delicious burger and icy electric lemonade on a sunny Saturday afternoon on the Hudson is a delicious burger and electric lemonade and a PINATA on a sunny Saturday afternoon on the Hudson
I decided to go for the *healthier* route and got the turkey burger with all the fixin’s … pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, onion, the works. The burger was pretty standard fare – not exceptional but still a pretty solid – nicely grilled and served on a soft, fresh bun.
So, when Serious Eats: New York publishes something about Chipotle giving away FREE BURRITOS, of course I have to go and personally investigate the situation. Forget about recession specials – what can be better than FREE CHIPOTLE BURRITOS??
Alas, it is true!
Even though the line of customers was all the way to the door, it was surprisingly quick. Within 15 minutes, I was already placing my order: a steak and chicken burrito with pinto beans, tomato and corn salsa. My mantra – why choose when you can have it all? The service was efficient and friendly – the guy putting together my burrito said “of course! no prob” when I asked for TWO meats, and even posed for a picture with my burrito when he saw me take out my camera!
Making my burrito…
Steak AND Chicken? Yes please.
I will definitely be back next Tuesday.
Chipotle - 45th St. Btw 5th and 6th Ave.
Last but certainly not least ….
The perfect ending to a birthday or any day – chocolate at Max Brenner! This was the dark chocolate “hot chocolat” – thick, velvety and luscious, and the beautiful latte art on top was the icing on the cake! This one was more of an American style hot chocolate since milk was added, but there are also many european style drinking chocolates available on the menu. Of course, what is hot chocolate without marshmallows?! Max Brenner also has the perfect hot chocolate for anyone and everyone that craves the nostalgia of hot chocolate topped off with a mound of marshmallows, just like the kind you had as a kid after you spent the whole day making snowmen or having snowball fights…
All of their hot chocolates are served in “hug mugs,” designed so that when you drink your chocolate, you “hug” your mug with your hands … yes, I know, a clever marketing scheme but I fell for it and bought one for my own mug collection at home
Of course, they also serve food! Food made of chocolate, that is ….
got the munchies for Munchies Waffles?
mmm my heart melts for this melting heart cake <3
Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man - 2nd Ave. and 9th Street (East Village)
On the actual day of my birthday, I arranged to meet some close friends in New York for the quintessential New York brunch at Sarabeth’s Central Park South. Sarabeth’s has several locations in Manhattan, but only the CPS location takes reservations for brunch. Even with a reservation, there was still an half an hour wait for our table – the place was packed (but that’s to be expected at noon on a Sunday). Once seated, I noticed that the CPS location is actually pretty roomy inside, with several different dining rooms and even a small cozy garden room in the middle that contains a table for two. The menu has both brunch and lunch items, with a separate cocktail menu. I thought that the Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Papa Bear porridge choices were particularly adorable! I had a really tough time deciding what to order since there were a few tasty eggs benedict choices available, but I was also really in the mood for lox and cream cheese. In the end, I got a little bit of both….
Goldie Lox (eggs with lox and cream cheese, served with a buttermilk red currant scone)
The eggs were deliciously fluffy and chock full of pieces of lox – each bite enhanced with a smear of tangy cream cheese. The scone was studded with bits of currant and paired perfectly with butter and strawberry preserves.
Here’s a sampling of a few other items on the menu:
For dessert, my friend S. brought me a chocolate cupcake from Crumbs! I only had room left in my stomach for one bite, and what a tasty bite it was!
Sarabeth’s Central Park South - 40 Central Park South (near 6th Ave)
Following our quest for takoyaki on St. Mark’s Place, we walked across town and browsed around West Village for a bit. There is a cute (and expensive!) puppy shop called “Le Petit Puppy” right off of Christopher Street, and I got to hold both a shih tzu and a yorkie!! The little darlings were so adorable – especially the shih tzu, who fell asleep in my arms! Puppy shop = instant mood lifter.
After our takoyaki and unagi-don digested, we finally arrived at the restaurant for my romantic birthday dinner with the bf …
BIANCA
Unfortunately, Bianca does not take reservations (even for special occasions like birthdays!), so we were faced with an hour and a half wait for a party of 2, since it was Saturday night. The bf and I headed to the bar next door to stay warm while we waited for a table to open up – the restaurant smelled so delicious and I was very excited for dinner! The wait was actually not too bad because I got a chance to work up a nice appetite for dinner and we were out of the cold night air.
Dinner was definitely worth the wait. We started the meal with an appetizer of Gnocco Fritto, puffy fried dough pockets served with various cold cuts – my favorites were the prosciutto and something that tasted like very high-end baloney! This appetizer is a specialty of Bianca’s that is hard to find in other Italian restaurants in the city.
Gnocco Fritto
Of course, we also went for a fried calamari appetizer (since calamari happens to be one of the bf’s favorite foods). Since there was no fried calamari on the appetizer menu, we decided to share the Fritto Misto, a mixed seafood entree consisting of golden fried calamari, red mullet, and shrimp with eggplant, zucchini, and basil. Absolutely amazing – although considering the size, probably better if it had been split for a party of 5 instead of a party of 2, haha!
Fritto Misto
Even though we were already starting to feel full from the delicious appetizers and the glass of Riesling that we were sharing, the bf and I bravely forged on. The entrees were ridiculously tasty as well. I had the lasagna, 8 layers of pure pasta perfection. The pasta was cooked to just the right firmness, and layered with rich, meaty goodness and finished off with a lovely bechamel. The bf’s Gramigna was also incredible – saucy, al dente pasta with little bits of sausage dispersed throughout.
Lasagna
Gramigna con Salciccia e Peperoni
Last but certainly not least, we turned our attention and our forks to dessert: tiramisu! As the waiter brought out the candlelit dessert, my bf sang “happy birthday” to me … the perfect ending to the perfect birthday dinner! The tiramisu was covered with luscious mascarpone cream, and the espresso laced ladyfingers perfectly completed this light, yet decadent dessert. Ah, la dolce vita.
Tiramisu
Bianca - 5 Bleecker St. (near Bowery)
Lately, I had a random craving for takoyaki – a puffy, fried octopus dumpling topped with okonomiyaki sauce and katsuobushi and served with mayonnaise and pickled ginger on the side. Katsuobushi is also known as “dancing fish flakes” because when it is added as a topping to a hot dish like takoyaki, the steam from the food makes the katsuobushi dance! The bf and I decided to have ourselves a little snack and off we trekked to St. Mark’s place to find some takoyaki goodness. We ended up at Yakitori Taisho, which is almost always packed with people and had a rather extensive and authentic looking menu filled with Japanese foods. I certainly had high hopes as we sat down in the crowded back room, elbow-to-elbow with all the other tables. Unfortunately, Yakitori Taisho woefully failed to live up to my dreams of yakitori that night. First of all, be aware that there is a minimum table charge of $7 per person, which is actually pretty hefty considering that this is a yakitori place and most single items are conveniently under $7 but any two items put together would be at least more than $10 – making so that a party of 2 would usually spend $20 without even including tax and tip! Do you know how much $20 could buy from Prosperity dumpling?? Over 100 dumplings and then a few sesame beef pancakes to boot!! Also, be ready for some terrible service at this place – the waitress got my order wrong and then argued with me about it, trying to convince me that I was the one who had made a mistake! When she clearly was not going to win the argument, she proceeded to sulk the rest of the night … incredibly, we still left a tip. The yakitori turned out soggy and not so good, although with the mayo it was better. At least the katsuobushi was dancing for us Since we were both hungry at the time, we ended up scarfing up the whole thing. We also had a don topped with scrambled eggs and eel, however the dish was so unfortunate looking I opted not to take any pictures of it.
Dance Katsuobushi, Dance!
Yakitori FAIL – Not as crispy or tasty as you might think.
Next time, I am avoiding the mediocre food and service at Yakitori Taisho and going to try out Otafuku on 9th Street, known for their takoyaki takeout! Hopefully they will be better at satisfying my craving for takoyaki that is perfectly crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside with pleasant little chunks of octopus dispersed throughout!
Yakitori Taisho – St. Mark’s Place
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