On Top of Spagetti, All Covered with Cheese...

The weather outside is definitely frightful these days but that hasn't stopped me from bracing the cold and wind and snow to cross restaurants off my list! My most recent adventure took me to the West Village for some great Italian comfort food. Piccolo Angolo has been on my list for a while and it's one of those restaurants that has been around for years so you know it has to be good.

Walking in on a freezing Thursday night, I felt like I was walking into an Italian family Christmas dinner. The restaurant is small, probably only 20ish tables and there were three huge parties going on. Brittany, Kristen and I were seated in the back near the kitchen and was greeted by the nicest waitress I've had in a while. Turns out she's not just a waitress but the owners daughter and had great recommendations for us and was extremely accommodating with our preferences. You can tell right away why this place is so popular. The staff is all one family and they're main goal is to please the customer. The daughter ended up leaving to walk her dad home in the cold, but she got our order in first.

We started with the highly recommended meatballs. They were 2 softball sized balls with marinara sauce that was great for dipping the garlic bread into. We wanted to finish the whole plate, but needed to save room for the two pastas we ordered next.

We got the gnocchi with bolognese sauce and the lobster cannelloni with their vodka sauce. It's hard to beat my mom's meat sauce, but Piccolo's was really good. It was more meaty than saucy and tasted great with the gnocchi. The serving size was definitely good enough for sharing if you're a girl and maybe a little small if you're a guy who likes his pasta.

The cannelloni was good, but for sure came in third place. There were lots of chunks of lobster and the vodka sauce was good, but it just didn't compare to the other two dishes we got. Finished off with a reasonably priced bottle of Pinot, it was a successful reunion with friends!

I loved the homey feeling of this restaurant but don't try going if you don't have a reservation. There is no room to wait inside and if it's winter time in the City, I doubt you'll be wanting to wait outside, no matter how good the food is.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

It all started on Monday afternoon as I was perusing my usual blogs, Web sites etc when I went on the Momofuku site on the chance that there was an open Fried Chicken Dinner reservation. Expecting to see pages and pages of little black X's like I usually do, I didn't give it much thought, just went clicking away. But to my surprise, there it was - the green check mark! It was for a 6pm Fried Chicken Dinner on Wednesday, December 16 (Yesterday). I clicked on it right away, called my sister, put in my credit card information and we were SET!

For those of you who are new readers to my blog, or have no idea what I'm talking about let me explain. Everyday, Momofuku Noodle Bar has 3 reservations for their infamous Fried Chicken Dinner. 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm (plus 2 later ones on the weekend). You can only make a reservation online and you can only have 4-8 people at each seating. I've been checking regularly for the past couple of months and have never seen availability.

Me, my sister and 4 other friends arrived last night promptly at 6:00 pm fearing that they might take away our fried chicken. We were seated at our own table and were told that our 2 and a half fried chickens were being cooked as we spoke and would be out in 15 minutes. Our waiter warned us that we were about to receive a HUGE amount of food, but we ordered 2 orders of the pork buns anyway because who can refuse them?

First came the pork buns, that were devoured immediately, and then came the "bounty" and 4 dipping sauces. The bounty is a huge bowl containing bibb lettuce, mint leaves, parsley, turnips and some carrots to eat with our fried chicken and mu shu pancakes. I don't remember exactly what each of the 4 sauces were, but one was with garlic and jalapeno, a regular plum sauce, a spicy paste concoction and a shallot/pesto tasting sauce. All were yummy except I didn't really like the spicy hot sauce type one.

And then the main event came to our table. All the tables around us turned to stare as a mountain high plate of 2 different fried chickens came to our table. One half was of your normal southern style chicken and the other half was Korean style with a hint of spice. You've never seen 6 petite girls dig in so fast. I started with the Korean style plain, with no pancake. It was amazing. The outside was so fried but the inside was so moist - I don't know how they do it. After finishing off a little wing of the Korean, I went on to a huge piece of the southern style. I added a pancake and a piece of bibb lettuce, the jalapeno sauce and plum sauce and wrapped it up. Awesome! Triple fried pieces of chicken with a warm and flavorful middle combined with the pancake and sauces.

This is mostly a picture of the Korean style chicken, but you can see the Southern style in the back!

Conversation was light throughout dinner but we mostly talked about was "this is so good!" "I'm so full, why can't I stop eating?" After 2 little pieces of the Korean, a big piece of the southern a half of pork bun later, I couldn't force myself to eat another bite, even though I really wanted to.


There was still enough chicken to feed an army so we doggy bagged it up and took it home.


Readers, you should add https://reservations.momofuku.com/login.aspx?unit=4 to your daily Web site stalking and hopefully you will be able to experience the dinner that I had last night.


Lunch Time!

A Week of Eats

I'll continue from where I left off last week after a great dinner at Ben & Jacks. I was supposed to go to Gradisca (where the owners grandmother makes home made pasta in the back) with my dad and sister on Wednesday night, but the Grateful Dead and front row seating was a priority so instead, I traveled through the chaos of Rockefeller Center to Hells Kitchen to meet Robin and Jenna before we saw Love, Loss & What I Wore starring Kristen Chenowith!! (and some other celebs).

Not only were we in Hells Kitchen, an area I do not frequent very often, but we ate at Hells Kitchen too! A Mexican Restaurant a little west of Times Square and perfect for a pre/post theatre experience.

We were on a time crunch so we ordered in a flash but were very happy with our decisions. We started with the rock shrimp cakes and the fried plantain gorditas with goat cheese and salsa. Jenna is obsessed with goat cheese and who can blame her -- it's one of the best cheeses around.

The shrimp cakes were good but I pictured them different in my head so I was a little disappointed. But the gorditas were yum. They looked like a little fried ball and on the inside were the plantains and the goat cheese.

For entrees the three of us shared the roasted chicken with cilantro mashed potatoes and the halibut with sweet plantain puree. Both were great! The chicken was very moist and the sauce was a black bean type of sauce that went together really well. I loved the mashed potatoes also -a little spicy and very creamy. The halibut was good too. Cooked really well and went great with the sweet plantains.

There was no time for dessert but the dinner was great and the service was fast which was necessary. Robin and I both agreed that this dinner was better than Maya the week before and less expensive which is always nice.

Friday we had one of our favorite visitors in town so we took her to Otto - a staple Italian Restaurant in the Village and a perfect girls restaurant before a night out. It's great for sharing and we did a lot of it. Cheese plate, pizzas (one with goat cheese of course), and an antipasti plate combined with a bottle of wine and dirty martinis couldn't have been better for a fun night out with my girlfriends!

Beware, reservations are hard to score, but they have a huge bar scene where you can order pretty much everything on the menu except for the pizzas and pastas.

Music for Life

If you're a frequent viewer of my blog, then you've noticed a new widget on the right hand side, called ChipIn!

Although this post has nothing to do with food, The African Children's Choir is a organization very close to my friend Erin's heart and she is currently making a documentary about these African children called "Upbeat" In order for her to make the best movie possible, any donation is appreciated.

I encourage everyone to check out The African Children's Choir Web site and Erin's blog about the making of her movie! She has been around the world with these children and I personally can't wait to see her movie come to life.

Good luck Buddi!

Porterhouse for 4

Yesterday was a red meat kind of day. It started out with a lunch with friends at Pj Clarkes next to my office. It's a great burger restaurant with yummy fries as well. Everyone at the table got a cheeseburger with fries and had a great meal until our water glasses were ripped from our hands. I guess that was a sign that they officially wanted us to leave. PJ's always has a huge lunch crowd and happy hour crowd and a good dinner crowd as well. They don't take reservations but the upstairs higher end restaurant, Sidecar does. They have the same burger and some good $18 salads as well.

(I forgot to take pictures of the food, so ketchup and mustard became our accessories.)

If you are ever in the Midtown area and need a quick good meal, I suggest trying out Pj's.

Still full from lunch, I then met my dad, his fellow dead head friend and my sister at the new Ben & Jacks location on 28th and 5th avenue. Ben & Jacks is pretty much a copy of the ultra famous Peter Lugar's in Brooklyn. Both known for their porterhouse steak, we knew we were ordering that from the get go.

We got the porterhouse for 4, Caesar salads, sauteed spinach, steamed broccoli and 1/2 onion rings 1/2 homemade chips for the sides. The steak was cooked to perfection. A little on the medium rare side but that's how we like it. The salad was great and even split it for me and my sister in the kitchen. The spinach came with pieces of garlic for a great touch and the onion rings were extra fried and delicious. Topped off with 2 bottles of Pinot Noir, it was a great 6:00pm dinner.

From the Mayan Riviera to Maya

Friday night was dinner and a movie night and I was super excited to try Maya and see the Blindside -- it was amazing!

Robin and I got a coupon off Groupon - which is a daily e-mail sent out with a special each day. This deal was a $50 coupon for only $25! Neither of us had been to Maya so we traveled uptown with Lindsey to give it a try.

My sister is a big fan of the upscale Mexican eatery so I was sure I would be too. We got seated immediately and ordered the guac and glasses of wine. The guac was really good. Robin and I like it spicy and Lindsey does not so they even brought us some jalapenos on the side.

Next we ordered the tuna tostadas that came in 3 pieces which was perfect, the mahi mahi, the chicken dish and a side of the creamed corn.

The tuna was cooked well but I don't remember it having that great of a taste. The chicken came already sliced in a little tower which was a pretty presentation and it was very flavorful and the mahi mahi was good as well. A little spicy but nothing we couldn't handle. The creamed corn was my favorite -- it was sweet and creamy (obviously) and yum! And they also brought black beans and rice to the table which was a nice touch.

We also got 2 desserts - the goat cheese crepes with caramel sauce was very unique and good and the chocoflan. Flan on the top and chocolate cake on the bottom. An interesting combination especially because I like chocolate cake but not so much flan, but we were intrigued.

Overall Maya was a great dining experience. It wasn't my favorite Mexican restaurant in the city, I say it's sister restaurant Pampano is better (esp. my go to lunch spot - Pampano Taqueria) and Dos Cominos is up there also.

I think I'm a little Mexican fooded out so it's a good thing my dad is coming tomorrow and we're having steak night and then Italian night! Thank you Grateful Dead for having a concert in NYC and my dead head dad for flying in for it.

A Murray Hill Staple

If you're a Jewish girl living in Murray Hill, then you've definitely been to Penelope. If you don't fall into that category, then Penelope might be the hidden gem for you. Located on 30th and Lex, it's the cutest, down to earth restaurant with the best brunch, lunch and dinner. There's always a guaranteed wait even for a random week night dinner and especially for their weekend brunch. I don't even try anymore. You're best luck is to go early in the morning (around 10ish) or later in the afternoon (around 3) in order to get in.

Me and my friend from Elementary school met up at Penelope on Wednesday night at 7:30 and there was already a 20 minute wait. We waited in the cramped sitting area and finally got our table.

Already knowing what we were going to order, I didn't even have to look at the menu. This is one of the only places that I've tried numerous things on the menu. The chicken meatballs as an appetizer or salad (which is my go-to) are delicious. The hummus is a great appetizer too.
The When Veggie Met Sally and their veggie burger are also crowd favorites. I've also had their hamburger, lobster roll, mac and cheese, chicken and brie sandwich and probably some others. The mac and cheese is good but not as good as some other restaurants so that wouldn't be my first suggestion to you.

The food comes out super fast and it's very reasonably priced. It used to be cash only which was annoying but not anymore! I highly suggest Penelope to anyone that hasn't been. They don't take reservations so be ready to wait at any day at any time but they have a bar with yummy sangria and the staff is always super friendly!

Viva La Mexico!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! I was fortunate enough to spend my Thanksgiving in the sunny country of Mexico -- where celebrating is at its best. My family and I spent a week long vacation in Riveria Maya to celebrate Thanksgiving and more importantly, my grandma's 90th birthday! We rented a house and layed by the pool everyday and then traveled to town for some delicious meals. My mom did the restaurant researching and my sister did the reservations and every night was better than the last. If anyone is traveling to Playa de Carmen/ Riveria Maya in the future keep on reading! Or if you want to be jealous of my Thanksgiving vacation you can keep on reading as well.

All of the restaurants we went to were in the downtown area of Playa del Carmen either on 5th avenue or off of. Do not be mistaken when I say 5th Avenue because there is no comparison. This one is a block away from the ocean which is a plus but the shopping is sub par. Go only for the gelato, haagen dazs, funny t-shirts and restaurants.

Below are my restaurant recommendations for Playa del Carmen... enjoy!

Casa del Agua - Get the Caesar salad table side and something off their creative drink list!

Cocina 38 - We were the only ones in the restaurant which was great. The tuna tartare was amazing (see picture for proof) and be sure when ordering the duck to specify what temperature you want it cooked at. Some came out too over done. The pork belly appetizer was really good also. I got the filet which was delicious.

Wicky's - Was a great steak house! Right on the water by the light house in brand new condos that aren't even open yet. The lobster mac & cheese was great and so were the truffle fries and of course the steaks. My sister in law Jodi doesn't eat red meat so she got the king crab legs which were delicious as well. They were already cracked and easy to eat! The chef is no older than 28 from Colorado and knows how to do a steak house well! They also offer beach service and breakfast/lunch everyday.

Negrosal - We went here to celebrate mom-mom's 90th bday. The menu was huge and the restaurant was gorgeous and open to the outside. They also had these great stools that went next to your chair so ladies could put their purses on them! A great invention and all restaurants should start using them. To start, I got the fried cheese which tasted like brie with a yummy apricot sauce. We also got the duck spring rolls which are highly recommended and the grilled calamari but beware it was spicy! For entrees the lamb chops were a bit hit, the asparagus crusted salmon and the seafood pasta dishes. They also offer Mayan dishes which was a nice touch for being in Mexico!

We even had a chef some cook us a real Thanksgiving with a 20 lb turkey and all the fixings!

A big thank you goes out to my mom and Michael for a great trip which hopefully we can do again next year!

Now back in New York the eating and blogging will continue...

Doughnuts are the new Cupcakes

So everyone knows that cupcakes are the fad right now. There's a Crumbs popping up on every corner and Magnolia is even going into Grand Central. Remember the good ole days when you used to have to wait for 30 minutes just to walk into the Magnolia on Bleecker and go eat your cupcake in the park across the street and wish you were Carrie Bradshaw?

Well those days are over and I'm no longer on a mission to try every cupcake in Manhattan (even though I'm really close. I think I only have to visit Little Red Hen and I've covered them all!). I've moved on and I suggest you all should too.

If you're a Food Network fanatic or are obsessed with food like me, than you might have heard about this secret little gem in the Lower East Side called The Doughnut Plant. Owned and run by a guy named Mark Israel, he is famous for his square jelly doughnuts. Why square you might ask? Well it insures that you get a some jelly in every single bite. What a concept right?

After reading and hearing about this place, I had to try it. A $13 dollar cab ride later, me Jenna and Gina arrived at the infamous Doughnut Plant and entered ourselves in line. Hint -- if you are planning on going to this place on a Saturday or Sunday, arrive early! They sell out quickly and DO NOT re-stock until the next day.

Not knowing when the next time we were going to be visiting, we got 4 different doughnuts to try. They were out of the original jelly doughnut so we opted for the peanut butter and jelly doughnut. The same square shape, the same jelly, just some peanut butter on the outside (even better in my opinion!) We also got a tres leches, an apple fritter type one and a chocolate icing with chocolate cake. We even saw Mark Israel working in the back -- that was a good sign.

With our doughnuts in hand, we ventured off to a sketchy little park in the middle of Ludlow to give them a try. AMAZING! The peanut butter and jelly one tasted exactly like a middle school peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The Tres Leches was soft and moist with some sort of gooeyness on the inside. The apple fritter was great but unfortunately I can't remember details about it (so friends -- chime in) and the chocolate one was not too rich and delicious.

All in all it was a great trip the LES with a visit to Economy Candy right after.

Like I said before, Cupcakes are out and Doughnuts are in, so get yourself to the Doughnut Plant ASAP.

PS: If you think I'm spelling doughnut wrong because Dunkin Donuts spells it like that - then think again. It's Dunkin that needs to use spell check.

Friends, Football, Fried Food

This past weekend I traveled down south to visit the family and take a trip to Athens for the UGA/Auburn football game. The trip was well worth it for 2 reasons. Number 1 was that we actually won the game! Beating Auburn for the 4th year in a row never looked so good. Number 2 was that I got to eat some of my favorite Southern foods with the best company around.

It went a little like this:

Saturday morning 10:00 am -- took a trip to Chick-fil-a for the best chicken biscuit known to man before heading up to Athens with my bffs. For all you northerners who don't know what chick-fil-a is, you need to go past the mason dixon line ASAP but beware because they're not opened on Sundays. Or you can pretend you're an NYU student and visit their student center -- but it's not the same.

Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm -- Fraternity house fried chicken. Definitely not as good as chick-fil-a but it was good in a pinch after drinking for hours.

Saturday night 7:00 pm -- Watching the game from the suites with some Caesar salad and fried shrimp.

You would have thought I overdosed on the fried food on Saturday but I didn't stop there.

Sunday afternoon around 3:00 pm -- a family trip to Steak & Shake for a burger and fries. I can't remember the last time I ate here but it will be a while before I have to go again. The fries are worth noting though because they are delicious! They're good plain or with a little cheese and chili.

Sunday night 7:00pm -- met a friend for dinner at Georgia Grille for their famous lobster enchiladas. Got those, plus cheese dip, plus fish tacos and a peach cobbler for dessert. This hidden gem is not to be missed for all my ATL readers. It's hiding in the back of a shopping center off Peachtree and everyone must go!

Monday afternoon 12:00pm -- Lunch with some more friends at a favorite of mine, Taqueria del Sol. Known for the BEST cheese dip in my opinion and the food networks too!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-specials/top-american-restaurants-bon-appetit-picks-the-best/index.html

Also got their fried chicken taco and the Memphis taco. If you haven't noticed, NYC does not have cheese dip unless you're going to Qdoba or Moe's. They try to trick you with their queso fondido but do not be fooled, it is not the same! So I have to wait patiently until I can go back home to get my amazing gooey cheese dip.

That concludes the eating portion of my trip to Atlanta. I had the best time in Athens and Atlanta and can't wait until I can go back again for some 75 degree weather in November! Go Dawgs!

Noodles and Buns

I got to cross a big one off my list last night and am so excited to share it with you! If you're a true foodie like me then you know how exciting it is to go to a restaurant that's been on your list for as long as you can remember. That is me and Momofuku noodle bar. David Chang's other 2 restaurants are on my list as well so if anyone has any connections with the ultra exclusive Ko reservation system, please let me know!

I convinced my sister to come with me last night because I had some time to kill before a going-away party I was going to. The wait was only 15 minutes which I hear is nothing and we got to sit at the bar facing the kitchen where all the magic happens!

Not knowing the next time I would be back to noodle bar, we ordered way too much food, starting with the Brussels sprouts. If you can't tell by now, Brussels sprouts are my new thing. I have been getting them a lot and they're great! I used to hate them but probably only because I had no idea what they were.

Next we ordered the famous pork buns. They come 2 to an order which is not enough because I could have had them both to myself. They are amazing! There is a little cucumber in it which adds a crunch and with a little bit of the extremely hot hot sauce - it's the perfect combination.

Next came the chicken wings which are made to order. It was a big serving of about 6-8 wings so we couldn't even finish them before our ramen came out. The wings were good but probably the least favorite of the night. I'm glad I tried them because the waitress raved about them but I don't need to get them again.

For the finale we got the most recommended dish on the menu, the ramen. It's huge with an egg, lots of pork, noodles and broth. I'm a ramen novice so good thing my sister was there to teach me the correct way to eat a noodle bowl. I don't understand how people can finish this thing, but we had proof when the guy next to us ordered it and finished it in about 5 minutes and then he was gone.

Even after being so hyped up, Momofuku lived up to it's expectations. My favorite by far were the pork buns and would go back just to eat those. With it being so busy, I never felt rushed and the food was timed perfectly. We weren't bombarded with dishes and had enough time to finish each one before getting the next. If you plan on traveling down to First Avenue and 10th street anytime soon, try your hardest to get a seat facing the kitchen. It's an experience not to be missed!

Now I'm obsessed with getting a reservation for their fried chicken dinner. I need 5 friends to come with me so when the time comes (and it will) be ready to drop your plans in an instant!

Sake Bomb!

It's already Tuesday and I'm still recovering from the weekend. I had a good friend in town and we were still celebrating Robin's birthday so I was out and about all weekend long - eating and drinking away.

I started off the weekend with a Friday night dinner at Yoshi Sushi in the East Village. It's BYOB which makes dinner much less expensive! Going to BYO restaurants before going out is the best way to eat, drink and get ready for whats to come later in the night. New York has a TON of BYO restaurants, mostly in the east village of lower east side and that so happens to be where I go out also. It works out great!

Yoshi is also a great pick because they have two private rooms for large parties. They're secluded so you can be as loud and rowdy as you want.

We sake bombed and ate until the restaurant closed and finished off one of those massive bottles of sake.

If you ever have visitors in town who are on a budget or you want a fun dinner without spending a ton, BYO is the way to go. I'm always on the look out for new ones to try but I'll give you the list I have made so far. Some of these places have a corkage fee, but it's no more than $5.00 a bottle.

• Cherin Sushi


• LES Sushi


• Sticky Rice


• Angelica Kitchen


• New Ayisha


• Poke Sushi


• Kuma Inn


• Jin Sushi


• Catch Da Fish


• Limon


• 11B


• Eatpisode


• Cube 63

Be sure to make a reservation for these places far enough in advance because they are usually really small and people stay there for hours!

East Village Dinner Part 2

It was my first time on Avenue C last night and I felt like the Rent cast was going to jump out at any second. My friend Rachel and I met at Matilda per the suggestion of my foodie sister, Melissa. Matilda is an Italian and Mexican fused restaurant named after the owners daughter. The menu looked good and it was Zagat rated so we decided to give it a try.

While the restaurant is pretty small, it was crowded for being so far east and I was hungry and excited to try the interesting combination of tastes on the menu. I started off with their version of a mojito, but instead of rum it came with prosecco (an Italian version of champagne for those who don't know). It was very good but a little too minty and I hated getting pieces of the mint through my straw.

We ordered 2 appetizers, the filet tacos and the tamalitos which came with polenta, peppers and cheese in a tamale. Rachel was the first to try the tacos and piled on the pico de gallo for some extra flavor. Little did she know that the salsa was topped off with fresh jalapenos and almost burned her tongue off. Hope you're okay Rach - they should really warn people about that! After seeing Rachel's reaction I strayed away from the pico so my tacos were good but a little bland. There was nothing that stood out to me about them and I've definitely had better. The tamalitos were good but it's kind of hard to mess up melted cheese with peppers and polenta.

Next we ordered the Salmon which was huge piece of fish! The sauce was really good and it was the perfect amount of food for the two of us. We opted out of the minimal dessert selection but I did love how they did the menu. It was placed in a little cut out on the table and we had no idea it was there until the waiter told us. Very creative!

My overall experience at Matilda was good but mostly because of the company. I think for what we ate it was very pricey and nothing stood out as being fantastic. I was hoping for a little more combining of the Italian and Mexican flavors but it turns out it was just two kinds of food at the same restaurant.

Turns out I don't love everything I eat in this fantastic city but that just means I have to try more restaurants!

Happy Friday everyone -- I have a very special visitor in town for the weekend and the eating beings tonight!

Sorry Robin, you can't de-tag pictures on a blog!

Last night was Robin's 25th birthday! To start off the festivities we went to Yuca Bar in the East Village. It's been on our list of places to try for a while so I'm glad Robin picked it! I'll be traveling down to the East Village for the next three nights so I'm considering myself a hipster now.

We were all a little famished when we showed up to dinner so we quickly put in an order of the guacasalsa and a pitcher of sangria. The gauc was small but the sangria was strong so it was a perfect intro into the night.

Next Lindsey and I decided to share a couple of things - or three. We ordered the lobster quesadilla, the tilapia tacos and the veggie black bean burger with yuca fries. We had to order yuca fries because duh we were at yuca bar.

Lobster quesadilla on top left and tilapia tacos to the right.

The other people at the table ordered crab cakes, shrimp tacos, another tilapia taco and a tuna "roll" with some rice and beans.

Crab cakes to the left and tuna "roll" on top. Looks like a sushi roll right?

The food came out fast and hot which was good and everything was yum! The lobster quesadilla was a little spicy for Linds, but I thought it was great. The tilapia tacos were fried which it didn't say on the menu but still fresh and easy to eat.

We were actually too full for the burger and fries so we canceled the order. And of course we see how good it looks at the table next to ours. I guess another trip is in order!

To top it all off the restaurant gave us a little dessert sampler for the birthday girl! I have no idea what any of it was except for the churros and they were fried deliciousness.

I can't wait for the birthday celebrations to continue all weekend!

Fried Chicken and Sushi = amazing

My highly anticipated Friday night dinner came and went in a flash. I've been hearing about Blue Ribbon sushi for almost 3 months now from some friends but I had to wait until my parents were here with their credit card to take me. Since the downtown sushi restaurant doesn't take reservations we opted for trying the Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill uptown. It's a combo of the original sushi restaurant and the brasserie. I was a little disappointed when I found out I wasn't going to the downtown one but it was still an amazing eating experience.

I started asking my foodie friends what I needed to order weeks ago so I sat down at the table ready to tackle the menu. We ordered so much that I need to write it all down for you and then I'll discuss my thoughts.

• Shrimp Shumai
• Blue crab wrapped in cucumber with vinegar sauce
• Wild mushroom miso soup
• Vegetables with fresh ginger soup
• Miso marinated black cod
• Soft shell crab tempura
• Assorted spicy rolls (spicy scallop, yellow tail and tuna)
• Tuna and avocado box sushi (which is pretty much a tuna roll with an avocado layer in between the rice)
• Fried Chicken "Blue Ribbon Style" with a wasabi and honey sauce
• Dragon roll
• Yellow tail salmon and tuna roll

Okay I know that sounds like a ridiculous amount of food. And it was. Usually I'm hungry 2 hours after I eat sushi but Friday night I was full until the next morning.

First I have to discuss the fried chicken. I never thought about ordering fried chicken at a sushi restaurant but I'm glad I listened to my friend Alan! It was amazing. It was crunchy on the outside and warm and moist on the inside. The dipping sauce was my favorite thing of the night. It was a wasabi honey combo that was spicy and sweet at the same time. I think it could go with everything and I wish they sold it.

Next notable mention is the soft shell crab tempura. It came as a whole crab but already cut into 4 pieces. It's my moms favorite so we had to get it. It wasn't too fried and it definitely a fan favorite.

The shrimp shumai is also in the pic.

The tuna and avocado box was pretty much a normal sushi roll but I've never seen tuna this color. It was a deep reddish color and so fresh I could have eaten the whole "box" by myself. I've eaten a lot of sushi in my 24 years and this was by far the freshest.

Next comes the sushi rolls. The ones below are the dragon roll and the yellow tail, salmon and tuna roll. All were yummy and I don't even like eel that much! I think I liked the spicy scallop the best and next comes the yellow tail, salmon, tuna roll.

It was a great dinner with great company and I'm glad I can finally highlight a Blue Ribbon Sushi in my Zagat! Next I might be needing to take a 1:45am trip down to the original with the Blue Ribbon experts.

Say Cheese!

I'll start this post with saying that I love cheese! Pretty much any kind of cheese and any food that comes with cheese in it. That being said, you can imagine my excitement when my sister made a reservation for dinner at Artisanal last Thursday with my mom and step-dad. They were in town (again) to watch my brother in law run the New York marathon yesterday - and he did great!!

We obviously started off our dinner with some wine and cheese - fondue that is. We got their standard Artisanal blend with bread and crudites. It was quite delish. But really, what can be bad about melted cheese and bread? The cheese took a while to heat up but once it did I couldn't stop eating it.

For our entrees I got the mussels with french fries and the rest of the fam got a variety of fish. Skate, Branzino and Swordfish. My sister took after my dad that night saying it was "the best skate she's ever had." We also had to try the mac & cheese as I once was on a mission to try all the mac & cheese in the city. I decided that goal is no longer attainable with the whole mac & cheese fad, but I'll order it whenever I see it. It was awesome and not only because it was free! The noodles were penne and it had the exact right amount of bread crumbs on top. Not too many and not too few. I was impressed!

The french fries are also worth writing about. I'm a fan of skinny and crunchy fries rather than the fat kind and these were perfecto!

Artisanal was the start of another eating weekend. With the parents in town, Halloween and the marathon there was a lot going on and that always comes with eating! But don't worry - I'm not complaining!

Guest Blogging Live From Atlanta!

I'm very proud to introduce Erin, my first guest blogger hailing from my home town, Atlanta. A best friend since I was 12 or younger, she knows my love of food and volunteered to share her thoughts on the food happenings down in the good ole GA. She recently took a trip to Flip with some other southern friends of mine. Flip is a fairly new burger restaurant owned by Top Chef alumni Richard Blais. I've had the pleasure of dining there on a trip home last Winter and it was fabulous - minus the wait and the no reservation policy. I do believe that I went there on a Saturday night, couldn't get in so went the next day for lunch instead.

I'll let E share the rest...

Please note -- Erin is a professional writer (among other amazing things) so please don't compare our writing abilities, because she will win.

Boutiques are my favorite place to shop. Well cute little boutiques in sneaky city nooks, precious small town squares... and, if you know me, obviously I also love the colorful, festive African markets. Boutiques and markets are the best place to find the perfect item... apparently food is included in this significant shopping category. Last night one of our best friends from growing up was in town in Atlanta so I suggested we eat at this new trendy burger place. "Trendy burger place" is so New York, so Hilly, but so not me. But we did a story on this place at CNN about its fresh, local ingredients and strive for taste perfection - including the use of nitrogen in its now-famous milk-shakes. Jillian and I were so excited to try Flip Burger Boutique... yes, it's a BURGER BOUTIQUE! Let me tell you, it was delicious! The best burger I've ever had. Kerri and I started with the Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow milkshake. It was like an orgasmic smore's explosion :). Haha. Seriously though. Then we had crisp fries with pomegranate ketchup... heavenly! And my "Farm Burger" tasted even better than the 2nd best burger I've ever had at Founding Farmers in DC last weekend. So, all you fancy New Yorkers... come down South to Hilly's home town and get some hipster service on the Flipside.

A Mexican Fiesta

So everyone should know by now that I love to eat and food in general. Usually I do my eating at the amazing restaurants around the city, but this past Tuesday Lindsey and I decided to eat in. And much to everyone's surprise, this did not include looking at menupages and getting something delivered. We actually cooked! We decided on Taco Tuesdays, it's easy and delicious and sushi was already dedicated to Mondays.

I was planning on making the tacos and cheating a little bit on the sides - as in picking up guacamole from the Qdoba down the street, but Lindsey insisted that we made it from scratch. I obliged mostly because I think its funny to see Lindsey in the kitchen -- she recently discovered it a couple of months ago. I found the easiest recipe possible and headed off to the "grocery store" after work. I use grocery store lightly because I'm from Atlanta where grocery stores are the size of wal-marts and a box of cereal is $3.00 instead of $6.

Being my second time at Gristedes since July, it took me a while to find everything on my shopping list but I was successful and hurried home to start cooking! We started with the guacamole, then made the turkey meat and finished it off with the margaritas.

Lindsey took charge of the guacamole after I did some tomato and onion chopping and she did a great job! You can see from the picture below, that it looked like real guacamole and tasted like it too! The rest of the meal was a success as well. We all learned that David (my third roommate and anti-blogger) is a pro at burrito folding and that all four of us had no idea where Kuwait is on a map. I guess I shouldn't really admit that but....

Even though David has yet to read my blog - I still have to credit him on his taco creation. It's gorgeous!

We finished off dinner with cookies better than Chikalicous -- slice and bake and we all went to bed happy and full.

I'd like to say that since this cooking thing was such a success I'm going to do it more often, but I'm not going to kid you or myself. It will be a long time until I cook something that doesn't involve a microwave in my kitchen. Eating out or ordering in always tastes better than cooking it yourself. It's a fact. So I rather go to the gym a little more and eat whatever I want -- who can blame me?

Sushi Mondays

Well really, I can eat sushi any day. But I just so happened to eat sushi last night with my sister -- thus it was Sushi Monday. Any time she is willing to venture out of her upper east side comfort zone, we meet at Nomado (165 East 33rd Street). I order in or go there at least once a week and sometimes twice. Not only is it one block away from my apartment, but it's amazing sushi. The rolls are really creative and it's always fresh.

My go to is usually the christmas roll which is rectangle shaped pieces of rice with crab on top and then on top of that is either tuna or salmon with avocado and some eel sauce. It's my all time favorite and if I don't get it when I eat Nomado then I start to crave it until I order it again. Another crowd pleaser is the pizza roll and I recommend that one as well.

If you haven't tried Nomado yet and you live in NYC, then I highly suggest you get yourself to Murray Hill asap. It's probably the only reason to even go to Murray Hill, unless of course you're coming to visit me!

Per usual, I forgot to take a picture of our sushi display before we started stuffing our faces, but below you will find our leftovers. One christmas roll and 4 pieces of the blue ocean roll.

Sake with Steph

Last night was hopefully a start to a new tradition. Steph, friend, food lover and fellow blogger and I decided that we need to start going on our eating adventures together and then both blog about them after. Our first pick was Blue Elm on the Lower East Side. For a fairly new restaurant in the midst of a recession, this narrow asian/french eatery was packed. The hostess even had to kick out the couple eating at our table because they had been there for three hours.

It didn't take us long to decide what we were going to eat because Steph and I had already looked at the menu approximately 4 times each, just yesterday. We decided on the pomme frites with three different dipping sauces, the tuna tartare (an all-time favorite), the yucca crusted salmon and a sushi roll.

The winner of the night was the tuna tartare for me. It had sliced almonds and raisins in it which added a little crunch and sweetness that was just right.
The pomme frites were also good especially with the spicy dipping sauce. The salmon was just okay and didn't really stand out to me and the sushi roll was good. The fish was fresh and the pieces were big. Good thing Steph wasn't judging me on my chop sticks to sushi ratio because they were below average.

We topped off our meal with a half bottle of sake - a new drink for me. I usually only drink sake when it comes in bomb form but I decided to give it a shot (no pun intended). A half bottle goes a long way when you're drinking out of a shot glass and I even learned a new fun fact. You're never supposed to pour your own sake -- it's bad luck. The waiter/waitress should do it for you but if they're not around, someone else at the table needs to do it. We definitely obliged on that rule because who needs bad luck these days?!








Even the best food bloggers out there forget to take pictures before starting to eat. But you get the point.








Don't forget to check out Steph's blog at: http://size9.tumblr.com/

Happy Friday -- eat something delicious and unhealthy tonight!!

Chikalicious Part Dos

I ventured down to the east village a lot sooner than I thought I would last night. After eating a yummy dinner at Max's and before trekking all the way to Brooklyn to do some bowling, we had to make a pit stop at Chikalicious again. This time if they didn't have the chocolate chip cookies I was crossing them out of my Zagat. But alas, our prayers were answered and there were two left on display! We got one cookie and also the smores cupcake. We couldn't refuse it after hearing that it was a graham cracker cake with a chocolate filling and a toasted marshmallow topping. It tasted EXACTLY like a smore... well my bite did minus the chocolate because someone (I won't mention any names) ate the whole chocolate filling. The frosting wasn't frosting at all but melty gooey marshmallow goodness that gets stuck on your fingers just like the good ole days. It was a very creative cupcake and I would definitely eat it again!

Here is a picture I stole off google so you can get the full smore cupcake effect.

http://dessertbuzz.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/chikalicious_smore_cupcake.jpg

The chocolate chip cookie was good also, but would have been even better if it was warm. I'm a soft cookie fan and this one was leaning towards being crunchy so I'm not 100 percent obsessed.
If stranded on a desert island and all there was to eat was this one chocolate chip cookie, I would eat it in one bite, but I would choose a soft batch cookie if there was a choice.

In conclusion, Chikalicious is remaining in my Zagat until further review of the dessert bar across the street.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

That is exactly what I did ALL weekend! I drank, I ate and I was very merry despite the cool weather. But the rain held off for most of the weekend allowing us to eat and drink in peace.

I know that this blog is supposed to only be about food, but I must include that Jersey Boys is the most amazing Broadway show EVER! I sang and danced my way through the entire show and still have the Four Seasons in my head this morning. If you haven't seen this show yet, get yourself to 52 and Broadway pronto.

Now back to the eating and the drinking...

As you recall from my post last week, after the show we went to Toloache for a late night dinner. Only in New York can you walk into a restaurant at 10:45 pm and have every table be filled and some people not even eating yet.

We ordered their famous margaritas, the guacamole tasting and the queso fondido to start. Rhonda, being the adventurous one, got one with jalapenos and cucumber in it, I stuck to the pomegranate and Melissa got this great watermelon one. Hers was probably my favorite. The guacamole tasting was great also. I mean it's not that hard to mess up guacamole but we got three different kinds and each stood out in their own way.

The first was just your regular guac, simple and delicious. Next was the traditional guac plus fruit in it. A concept that I had never heard of before, but it was my favorite! The mix of avocado with strawberries and pomegranate was great! And the third was the spicy guac. The color threw me off at first, a dark brown, making me think that they use old avocados but turns out a chipolte sauce is added to add the spice! This one was a crowd favorite as well, but I'll stick to my frutas.

Following the appetizers we got the lobster tacos, tilapia tacos and the chicken enchiladas. While the tacos were small, only two came per order on small tortillas, they were amazing! The tilapia ones came with a slaw on top and the lobster tacos were pretty basic, but it's hard to compete with chunks of lobster.

While we promised ourselves we were going to be adventurous and get the grasshopper tacos, we chickened out and stuck to the food groups we were familiar with.

My dad got the Paella and he said it was the best paella he's ever had. Just like the rib-eye on Thursday night was the best rib-eye he's ever had and on Saturday night it was the best trout he's ever had. My dad definitely needs to come to New York more often!

Sorry no pictures of Toloache and its food, I was way too tired and full!

On to Saturday night at A Voce in the Time Warner center. This is the second A Voce in the city so you know it has to be good. The restaurant itself was gorgeous with great views of Columbus Circle. We got seated at a round table which was perfect for sharing and conversing, which we did a lot of.

The menu was extremely creative and different, so if you're not an adventurous eater, don't come here. We started off the night with some small veggie plates and the bread. Again, we knew we were in for a great meal after we tasted the foccacia and it's olive oil and cheese spread.

Next came the appetizers. Keith got the beef carpaccio, Melissa got the pork belly with figs and balsamic and I got the cassoncini. I'm sure you guys don't know what these are, but I'll explain. They are amazing fried dough pockets filled with cheese with pieces of prosciutto on the side. The waiter explained that you're supposed to wrap the prosciutto around the fried dough and we did just that. Anything involving cheese and fried sounds good to me and add in a little prosciutto and it turns into amazing! See picture below for proof.

For the entrees we got a mixture of pasta, chicken and fish. The pastas were homemade so they were obviously my favorite. Melissa got pappardelle - surprise, surprise-- I got the spaghetti with crab and sea urchin and Rhonda got the butternut squash ravioli. Keith of course had to be healthy and order the chicken and my dad got the trout which you read above. And we actually got dessert! I was too full to breathe let alone look at the dessert menu but we got the doughnuts and panna cotta. I'm really disappointed that I couldn't eat more because the doughnuts were so good! They were warm on the inside with this filling inside that I can't even explain and then there was chocolate dipping sauce on the side. If I could do it all over again I would have forced myself to eat more dessert regardless of the consequences that might have happened later.

While my parents left after our 11:00 am Sarges lunch, my eating didn't end. Lindsey and I had our first successful double date at the Smith and then to Chikalicious for dessert! I might need to venture down to the East Village again sometime soon because Chikalicious was out of a lot of stuff! No chocolate chip cookies, and only 3 flavors of cupcakes left - but we got all three and a macaroon. The banana cupcake was my favorite especially because it reminded me of my moms banana chocolate chip muffins. Next came the vanilla and I didn't even try the coconut because that's not my style. For being a chocolate lover, the vanilla was pretty good. All the icings were light and creamy and the cake was moist. Next on my list is the Chikalicious restaurant next door for its 3 course pre-fix dessert tasting. Sounds pretty amazing right?!

Well that concludes my weekend eating recap. Hope you all enjoyed reading about it as much as I did tasting it. I'm not sure when my next outing will be but don't worry it will be soon and there will be pictures.