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.

West Village Lunch Break

It's been a couple of days since my Friday surprise but I still remember all about my Little Owl experience. It's no wonder why no one can get a reservation to this place, it's TINY! They probably only have 8-10 tables in there, but that only made me feel even cooler walking through the red velvet curtains to meet my sister and parents on my two hour lunch break.

Picking what we were going to eat was a breeze after our waitress told us that the bacon cheeseburger had been voted best in the world. My dad and I looked at each other and knew we had to try it! We also got the ricotta cavatelli which is cheese filled pasta in a tomato broth -- what can be wrong with that?

My step-mom and sister shared the broccoli soup (because it was freezing out!) and the gnocchi. Both were great! However the winner of the meal was of course, the cheeseburger. It was awesome. I didn't even want to eat the bun because the burger was too much to handle. I totally agree that this might have been the best burger in the world and I would get in again -- if I ever visit Little Owl in the future.

Again, we didn't get any dessert, but I was sure to stop by my new favorite yogurt place, Eskimix and travel on the E train with it back to work.

A Friday Surprise!

Good morning everyone!!

I have great news to share! While at dinner last night, I got really sad and jealous that my sister was taking my parents to Little Owl for lunch today. I've been dying to try it as I'm sure every other New Yorker who is a foodie as much as me.

So I came into work today determined to ask my boss if I could take an extended lunch today. She said YES! So I quickly called Little Owl to see if they could change the reservation from 3 people to 4 and they said YES also!

I'm so excited! The countown to 1:30 pm begins now.

Be jealous, very jealous... http://www.thelittleowlnyc.com/

Also, I wanted to note that the lady who picked up the phone today was SO nice! I'm always impressed when hyped up restaurants have pleasant people working for them. Bravo Little Owl, you got me even more excited than I was this morning.

Looking for a T-Bone? Take yourself to T-Bar

One of the best parts of having your family come in town is of course getting to eat at all the places you've been reading and hearing about but not being able to go to yet. Mostly because paying NYC rents really doesn't allow you to go eat at 4 star restaurants on a daily basis. Go figure.

As ya'll know, my dad and step mom arrived yesterday to the worst weather we have experienced this season. I blame them for bringing Atlanta's rain to NYC so everyone else can blame them also.

After trekking across town after work to meet them at their hotel, The Empire, we went up to the swanky rooftop bar for a drink. It's now covered for the winter and it's really nice up there. If I had just closed my eyes and pretended that it was 80 degrees and sunny, we could have been in Miami!

One dirty martini down, we were off to meet my sister at Tbar on the upper east side. It was hopping for a Thursday night! We got seated right away which is always a plus in my book and had our second dirty martinis in hand soon after. After being in New York for only a short time, I decided to listen to my old roomie/bff Rachel when she told me that dirty martinis are amazing and the best bang for your buck in these parts of town. I am now officially a martini lover and am proud of it!

To start, my dad wanted me to mention that the bread basket was great! He also says you can always tell that the food is going to be good based on the bread basket and I have to agree with him. My sister and I shared the chopped salad and my parents shared the wedge and they came out already split which was another plus for Tbar! Next we all ordered steak, obviously. We ordered 2 filets and 1 rib eye and the best part at all steakhouses -- sides!! Baked potato, spinach, a roasted squash with maple syrup and french fries that came in this cute take out box.

Everything was cooked to perfection and delicious! We all loved how each steak came with a garlic clove but the person who loves that the most wasn't even there to enjoy it. :( Stop working so much Keith or you're going to miss out on all the food this weekend! The squash side was also awesome! It kind of tasted like mashed sweet potatoes but even better. Sorry, no pic of that one.

The only bad comment I have to say about Tbar was the dessert. We were too full to even eat it, but nothing even caught our eye. Because you and I both know that I can be so full I could explode but still take a bite of a chocolate cake!

All in all I had a great Thursday night with my family and am anxious to continue the food fest weekend!

Happy Friday everyone -- eat something delicious today! and thanks to Meghan and her creative juices this morning!

Anticipating the Weekend...

While it's only 11 am on Thursday, I'm already deciding on what I want to eat at dinner tonight and the rest of the weekend.

Just wanted to give you a food itinerary for whats on deck for the weekend... get ready!

My parents are en-route to NYC currently and we're going to Tbar Steak and Lounge tonight.
After looking at the menu, I'm anxiously awaiting the chopped salad and duh, a steak! Jamie says it's one of her favorite restaurants on the upper east side so we'll have to see if it lives up to expectations.

Tomorrow my sister is taking the day off and I'm so jealous because she is going to Little Owl for lunch. We've been trying to get in there for about 3 months to no avail, so if anyone has any connections for dinner LET ME KNOW!

Maybe Melissa can be a guest blogger for her Little Owl experience tomorrow... what do you think Meliss?!

Friday night is Jersey Boys!! I'm the only person in NYC that hasn't seen it yet and am so excited, then off to Toloache for a late late dinner. I hear the margaritas are amazing, so we're definitely getting those and probably the guacamole tasting. I'm curious to figure out what the avocado and cactus fries are all about so those are a must and I'll keep ya'll posted.

Saturday is Game Day!! So I'm taking my dad and Rhonda to Firefly and hopefully the Dawgs can pull it together for a W but if not, we'll still have some good bar food and beer I'm assuming.

Then Saturday night is A Voce at Columbus Circle. I've been hearing great reviews about this place and pasta is my favorite food so I can't wait to see what's in store. All the pastas sound amazing so it will hard to choose just one. But that's the benefit of going to dinner with a group of 4. All getting different things and sharing!!

Don't worry we're not stopping there, Sunday is lunch at my sister and Keith's apartment and we're ordering in ess-a-bagel (the best bagel in America) and Sarges. My dad is obsessed with their pastrami and might try to smuggle some back with him on the plane, so if you're flying Delta from LGA - ATL Sunday afternoon, beware!

I'm exhausted just thinking about all food I'm about to consume in the next 3 days, but I know I can handle it.
Keep checking back as my food adventure will be updated all the weekend goes on!


And now it's almost lunch.. any ideas on what I should eat?!

Park Avenue and Autumn, great apart and even better when together

It couldn't have been a better fall day to begin documenting my food adventure with a lunch at Park Avenue Autumn. The breeze was in the air as my co-workers and I traveled over to 63rd and Park to celebrate the end of a great recruiting season. Having never been to Autumn before, I was super excited.

For those who don't know about the Park Avenue restaurant, let me explain its uniqueness. Every season Park Avenue closes its doors for 2 days to totally transform the restaurant. They change the decor and menu four times a year, creating four different restaurants. I think the idea is genius as it makes people want to come eat there four times a year rather than one.

I had the chance of experiencing Park Avenue Winter last year and was not disappointed and I wasn't today either. Having known I was going there since last week, I probably looked at the menu three times.

While it was a tough decision, I decided to get the scallop appetizer and the Autumn Haystack Crispy Shrimp Salad. Both were unreal. Looking back, I think I had the scallops the last time I was there, but they were just as good. Other things at the table were, the corn soup, fig carpaccio, butternut squash linguini , halibut and a lobster salad. There were no complaints and we all are currently sitting in our offices with food comas.

For once it's 3:30 pm and I'm not thinking about what I'm going to eat for dinner so job well done Park Avenue Autumn.

P.S. My dad and step-mom arrive to NYC tomorrow and my sister and I have a food filled weekend ahead of ourselves. Expect lots of pictures and commentary.

P.P.S. Photo credit to Jamie and her amazing iphone!

The Journey Begins...

So I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while now but never thought I was witty or interesting enough. I still don't think either of those things, but decided to give it a try nonetheless.

Moving to NYC from Atlanta almost 2.5 years ago, one of my main goals was to try all the best places to eat in the city. If you know me, then you know... I LOVE to eat and to try new things. I will try not to go to the same restaurant twice and if that happens, I'm not that happy about it.

My mom has convinced herself and others that my sister and I will finally move back home once we have tried all the restaurants in New York City. While I don't think that's possible, I'm desperately trying.

I have to admit that Zagat is probably my favorite book and Web site, and frequent them both daily, trying to scout out my next food conquest. I've even started highlighting which restaurants I've been to. I know I'm a food dork.

So I guess the point of this blog is to talk about all the new resturants I try and what I eat at all of them. Hopefully they'll include some pictures but until I get a new blackberry with a camera, that might be delayed.

Happy reading and eating!