New Yooooooork. I need to go here less often! Let's start with the best:
LOCANDA VERDE: This Robert DeNiro co-owned Italian restaurant in Tribeca has been getting a lot of hype lately, and luckily for part of my trip I was staying within walking distance so the cold rain wasn't a huge deterrance. Almost everything we had was delicious, and even with such recent raves it was actually very chill and down to earth.
Popular sheep's milk ricotta; super juicy shredded porchetta > Roli Roti
Pastries were a bit on the dry side, so they would've gone well with coffee (olive oil coffee cake, fig-almond muffin, huckleberry pistachio cake); Grandmother's ravioli which had an off/gamey flavor, and pumpkin sage brown butter agnolotti which was perfect; yummy lamb meatball sliders
SETAGAYA: East Village ramen joint that I really only went to because it was just down the street from where I was staying for the other half of my trip and because it was super cold and I wanted hot noodle soup! The broth was very oily, and my pieces of pork were almost all fat. Not going back.
LUKE'S LOBSTER: There's a choice of "Small, $8" or "Regular, $14." What they don't tell you is that their "small," is really half of a regular, where the regular is the size of a gray's papaya hot dog. Nice blend of herbs on top, nice chunks of lobster, buttery roll, but you can find lobster rolls in the bay area for triple the size at the same price and quality.
FAIL and FAIL
SULLIVAN STREET BAKERY: During part of my trip I took a little stroll through Hell's Kitchen and picked up a loaf of bread, a mascarpone/dried fruit pastry similar to a danish, and a slice of potato pizza. The style was very Californian, but Cheeseboard > Pizzetta 211 > Sullivan for pizza, sorry.
AZURI CAFE: They have a very popular falafel, and it was tasty and loaded with lots of toppings. However, Taim > Mamoun's (value) > Azuri > Oasis in SF
MOMOFUKU MILK BAR: my friend wanted to go, so I took the chance to try their seasonal rice pudding pie + caramlized apples. Nothing special.
CARACAS AREPA BAR: tasty, great service, deceptively filling
53rd/6th HALAL CART: I had never gotten a chance to go before, but I happened to be in the area and decided to be late to my scheduled dinner =P The things I do for food! Arrived 5 min before their scheduled opening time, and got in line after the 40 ppl already there. Chicken/lamb over rice... good late night food, but nothing to go out of your way for. Comparable to the former Meesha's in Berkeley, which sadly changed ownership =(
Chicken + rice in a Bergdorf bag... gotta roll in style you know
MILK THISTLE: I didn't actually go to the farm of course, but some time ago I had a brief mini obsession with milk and wanted to see how the lauded milk of the east compared to our very own Straus. Verdict? Straus > Clover > Milk Thistle. You just can't beat CA when it comes to fresh flavor! These are really great videos though.
MFK MILK BAR AGAIN: My cousin raved about their English muffin breakfast sandwich, so I woke up relatively early on a Saturday morning to get it. It's all about the melty yolk, but is really an artisanal version with some pea sprouts and some minimal pork bits. Surprisingly light, it was definitely not the I-feel-like-I'm-going-to-die-satisfying like Il Cane Rosso's. The volcano, on the other hand, was mostly potato and not enough cheese. This will really sink in your gut.
Layers of potato gratin wrapped inside baguette dough
CAFETERIA: My friend goes here often since it's close to her office, and as expected it was filled with models, fashionistas, and gays. Bacon mac n cheese, braised short rib tacos with a refreshing touch of butternut squash, and a side of spinach to ease the guilt. Bigger portions than you would think!
ABRACO: NY's coffee will never stand a chance against the west coast, even with BB alum.
RUSS + DAUGHTERS: wanted to get some fish, but was too full of fried chicken that I just got one piece of rugelach, mostly because I wanted to compare it with the version I used to make
Olive cookie from Abraco + rugelach from Russ & Daughters
GRAPE AND GRAIN: chill bar in Alphabet City where the "grape" side is wine-focused, and the "grain" side serves mostly locally brewed and crafted beers.
MFK NOODLE BAR FRIED CHICKEN LUNCH: this elusive reservation was my first meal of the trip, and our party of 4 made a feeble attempt to put a dent in what could really serve 10 people. We got about 2.5 whole chickens, made in two styles: triple fried Korean style, and southern. Korean was definitely better because of the extra crispy and light skin, whereas the southern style was breaded too heavily and each piece kind of looked like a big brown rock. We were also given sauces and things to eat the chicken as ssam. My favorite combo: korean style chicken + shiso leaf + mint + lettuce + jalapeno garlic sauce in a flour wrapper.
Bars are dark; veggies, herbs, and sauces
Definitely needed the wet wipes
CALLE OCHO: This UWS latin restaurant was mostly chosen for its massive size (party of 20 holla) and proximity to where we were coming from. Nothing special, except the "bread" ended up being these rolls that seemed to be made out of rice flour, so they somewhat resembled fried mochi balls. Spread on some black bean dip and you have something surprisingly awesome.
PDT: "Please Don't Tell" is a speakeasy adjoining Crif Dogs, where the entrance is through a phone booth inside the dumpy hot dog joint. A bit kitschy, but you have to admit that the phone booth is pretty neat. Drinks are your standard mixology type, but the real treat is their "guest chef" dog menu. We tried just about all of them including the hyped Chang dog with kimchi (I think Asia Dog is better), but I really liked the John John Deragon, which essentially tasted like a bagel with cream cheese.
OK, I'm officially Chang'ed out.
