Category: New York

There was a fun, hipster restaurant that I ate at in New York that served classic comfort food. Mom’s Kitchen and Bar has a retro diner feel. Instead of a juke box, the music symbols and band names are all over the menu.

They offered a fun selection of cocktails with equally fun names. I did not even know you could still get Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers. If you are craving one of those 80’s treats then Mom’s is the place for you.

Since I was there with a friend, we went for the “Big Ass Cocktails” that they offered in 32oz. pitchers. They were only $16 which is an amazing deal for New York City! We ordered the Dirty Shirley. I loved Shirley Temples as a kid. So I could not wait to try the adult version.

It was a playful presentation with bendy straws and a rubber duck.  The drink had that great grenadine taste. They used a generous amount of vodka, which made it pretty strong.

The menu was full of homemade comfort foods. I went for the crispy chicken and gravy, which came with two sides.

The serving size was huge. I got two large chicken breasts that had been marinated in buttermilk. They were tossed in a breading that was loaded with their house secret seasonings. The outside coating was extremely crispy. That crust helped seal on the juiciness of the chicken.

They served a side of peppercorn gravy with the chicken. I dipped a few pieces of chicken in the gravy and it added a whole new level of flavor to the chicken. The gravy reminded me a little of the gravy that comes with chicken fried steak.

I got the homemade mac and cheese as one of my sides. The cheese on top created a nice crispy layer. Past the top layer was the creamy macaroni. It was cheesy, salty goodness.

The other side I got was the Brussels sprouts. Unfortunately these were just steamed, so they were kind of mushy. They would have been better if they were fried or sautéed in a little garlic.

Mom’s Kitchen and Bar  was a fun, unexpected find in New York City. I will be going back because I want to try one of their adult soda floats. Check out their menu at www.momsmidtown.com

Enjoy!

T

I was visiting a friend in New York and she wanted to take me to a great restaurant she found in her neighborhood. It is a Peruvian restaurant called Pio Pio. I had never had Peruvian food so I was excited to get to experience it.

Like all New York restaurants it was fairly small inside but luckily we were able to get a table. The smell of food filled the air.

     

What perfect way to enjoy dinner with friends than with a pitcher of sangria. They offered both red and white options. We went for the red. It was semi-sweet. All the fruit was chopped up into bite size pieces.

There were several items on the menu that sounded delicious. It was a hard choice but I went with the Salmon Guajillo.

This was a large piece of salmon that was baked in a guajillo chili and chardonnay sauce. The skin on the salmon was extremely crispy. I loved the crunch. It had a great salty taste. The fish was super flakey which made a few of the bites difficult to eat because I could not get the salmon on my fork. The chili-wine sauce was amazing. It was a savory sauce.  The salmon came on top of mashed potatoes and steamed spinach. The potatoes were nice and creamy and tasted great with the extra chili-wine sauce.

My friends I was dining with let me try the dishes they ordered. They knew I would want to write about them. The one dish was the Ceviche de Conchas. These were scallops in a cream sauce. The scallops were very tender. The cream sauce paired so well with fresh scallops. The sauce helped make this simple dish filling.

The other dish was the Pollo a la Brasa. This was a rotisserie chicken that Pio Pio is actually known for. You can order it as a small piece for yourself or as a whole chicken to share family style. The chicken had a great savory herb flavor. The meat was extremely juicy.

It was dessert time. We decided to get something that we could all share. We went for the Tartufo.  This was a blend of vanilla and chocolate gelato. It had a cherry and almond center. Then the whole thing was coated in a chocolate shell. Luckily for us they cut up this dessert into four pieces. It made it much easier for each of us to take a bite.

The gelato was creamy and smooth. The combination of vanilla and chocolate was a classic pairing. The cherry center mixed with the chocolate shell and gelato to recreate the taste of a chocolate covered cherry. This dessert melted fast, so you have to eat it quickly.

I had a wonderful meal at Pio Pio. I am glad I got to experience Peruvian food. Plus I had amazing company. If you are visiting New York and want to get away from the tourist areas, head to Pio Pio. Check out their menu at www.piopio.com

Enjoy!

T

 

If you have every picked up a Hollywood gossip magazine at some point in time the restaurant Tao has been talked about. Tao is an Asian fusion spot that is always busy and every now and then has a celebrity sighting. Now I did not go to Tao hoping to see someone famous. I wanted to go because Tao was one of the first restaurants I visited when I started traveling to New York over 15 years ago.

When I walked through the door it was exactly how I remembered it. The lighting was dim. There was Asian décor decorating every inch of the interior.

  

The show stopper is the giant Buddha statue. It is almost as tall as the entire restaurant (keeping in mind that this place have 2 levels). Every table in the place can see this beautiful statue.

Their menu has a very large selection of fabulous dishes. You can order everything from fresh sushi to Kobe beef steaks. It was a hard decision but I decided to try a few appetizers and a main dish.

The pot stickers were great to start with. I went for the pork. I think the pork added more flavor to the filling. It went really well with the chili sesame glaze. The pot stickers were pan fried so the outside dough was crispy.

The other great appetizer was the satay of chicken and it came in a peanut sauce. The chicken was thinly sliced and speared on a stick. The chicken was extremely tender and even though the meat was thin, it was still super juicy. The chicken with the peanut accents had wonderful flavor.

For my main dish I ordered the Tao Lo Mein. I was really in the mood for a noodle dish. These tender noodles came with roasted pork and sliced up portabella mushrooms. The mushrooms added a slight earthy taste. The pork was sweet and tender. The sweetness of the pork complemented the salty taste from the soy sauce used on the noodles.

I did save a little room for dessert. I went for the sugar dusted doughnuts. Six mini doughnuts came out speared on a stick.

The dough was light and fluffy. They used a granulated sugar on the outside of the doughnut that added a slight crunch. On the side these doughnuts came with three dipping sauces:

1. Chocolate
2. Caramel
3. Vanilla Cream

The chocolate added a slight bitter taste to the sugary doughnut. The vanilla cream was slightly runny. It was also much sweeter than the other sauces. The caramel sauce was my favorite. It was right in the middle on the sweetness scale. I also thought it tasted best with the fried dough.

Tao is exactly how I remembered it. The food was amazing and the views were entertaining. If you like Asian fusion I would highly recommend going to Tao. It is a true New York experience. They are always busy so I recommend you make a reservation.

Check out their website and menu at www.taorestaurant.com

Enjoy!

T

New York has so many restaurants. To anyone visiting it can be extremely overwhelming. I have been coming to New York for years and I still find it challenging at times. It is very easy to go back to a restaurant I have been to before. However, part of the fun of traveling is trying new places. That is exactly what I did this trip. I was hungry for a great Italian meal so I checked out Arno. They have been serving homemade Italian for over 20 years.

   

I got there right at dinner time but it was probably a little early in terms of a New York dinner time. The bar was not very full however, within an hour the place was packed. It was a good thing I had a reservation.

  

In glancing over the menu there were several things that sounded wonderful. I had changed my mind a dozen times. In the end I knew whatever I tried would be great.

While making my final decisions, I enjoyed a glass of Riesling. The taste was the perfect sweetness.

I also enjoyed some of their fresh made breads. The taste of the bread made me even hungrier.

  

I started off with the tortellini soup. It was a simple soup, flavorful chicken broth with cheese tortellini mixed in. I enjoyed this because it was simple. It was a great starter because it was not heavy or extremely filling. This is a soup I would be interested in replicating at home.

The main dish I had decided on was the Scaloppine all a Cardinale. They used veal sautéed with white wine, prosciutto, mozzarella, and roasted peppers.

The plate came out with three large pieces of thin veal. The veal was so tender I was able to cut it with a butter knife. The cheese, prosciutto, and peppers were layered on top. That combination of ingredients were full of flavor. However, when that all got combined with the white wine sauce the flavor was elevated to another level. The sauce had a buttery essence that helped make the veal melt even more. I was so glad I chose this dish. I could not stop eating it.

Thought I had eaten a large dinner, I still needed to leave a little room for dessert. Who could pass up desserts when it is displayed so beautifully on a cart right in front of you. Each choice was perfect for sharing.

  

The cheesecake was a must try, especially since I was in New York. It came with fresh berries on the side. The cheesecake was extremely light and fluffy. It was not as dense as other cheesecakes I have had before.

The other dessert I tried was the Napoleon. It was layers of fresh cream custard and crispy pastry. It was difficult to cut without all the custard squeezing out. But it was necessary to eat the custard with the pastry. The pairing was wonderful.

Arno offered an amazing Italian feast. Everything I tried was wonderful. I would for sure go back in order to try one of the other dishes I was considering.  Check out their menu and get hungry yourself at http://www.arnoristorante.com/

Enjoy!

T

Hell’s Kitchen has become famous for their food thanks to a few cooking shows on television. I figured when I was in New York I should head on over and have a great Italian meal at Il Forno.

I did not have a reservation so I as worried about getting a table. There were several large parties but the hostess was able to find me a table.

The inside was decorated to look like an Italian village. The walls looked like buildings that had windows complete with flower baskets on the window seals.

It smelt great inside because of their big wood oven for their pizza.

I ordered the wild mushroom risotto. It was super creamy, loaded with parmesan cheese and truffles. They added to the creaminess by putting goat cheese on top. The risotto was cooked perfectly – not to hard or soft. The truffles added an earthy taste to the cheese.

I also ordered a side of roasted brussel sprouts. This dish was unique compared to how I normally get brussel sprouts. They shaved their so that they were small, thin slices. They were cooked with thick crispy chunks of bacon, which added a saltiness to the bitter taste of the brussel sprouts. Then they topped them off with ricotta cheese that added a creamy taste.

The risotto was very rich so I had no room left for dessert which was a bummer. From what I could tell, the other guest were loving what they ordered. If you want a great homemade Italian meal in Hell’s Kitchen then you must visit Il Forno, Check them out at http://www.ilfornonyc.com/

Enjoy!

T

Located in the neighborhood of Chelsea sits a cute restaurant called Tipsy Parson.

It is a cozy place that is darkly lite on the inside to help create an intimate mood. The décor also makes you feel like you are dining in someone’s home with wall paper that looks like bookcases.

    

Naturally, I had to start off with a cocktail. I went for a drink named the Tipsy Palmer. It was sweet tea, mint, lemon, and vodka (there was also an option to use bourbon). It was not sweet at all and certainly not overpowering. It was a great choice to go with the flavors of the appetizers that we chose.

The menu has a Southern flare to it so all the appetizers were takes on Southern classics. They all sounded delicious so we ordered one of everything. First out were the deviled eggs, which were piled high with filling, and the hush puppies. The deviled eggs were creamy but not spicy at all. The hush puppies were made with red corn. They were light and fluffy with a ton of flavor.

The fried pickles were made from thick deli style dill pickles that were a little spicy. They were very juicy when I bit in.

The final appetizer were the corn dogs made with Andouille sausage. They had a little heat to them; the sausage were in a natural casing so they had a little snap when I took a bite. They came on sticks just like corn dogs you would get at a state fair. They were pretty addicting to eat.

After tasting all the appetizers, the hush puppies were everyone’s favorite and we ended up getting a second plate of those.

I knew that all the food we started with was going to fill me up pretty quickly, I went lighter on my main dish. I ordered the Aurora salmon. The fresh piece of fish was served with a celery root puree that added an overall creaminess to the dish. It also came with roasted rainbow cauliflower with a celery-horseradish vinaigrette.

The skin of the salmon was cooked to be extra crispy. It added a salty accent to the fish. The cauliflower was perfectly cooked with a little salty taste too. I had no idea that cauliflower came in an array of colors.

For dessert we decided to get two options and just share them among the table. The first one we knew we had to try because it was the name of the restaurant – The Tipsy Parson. It was a bourbon soaked almond cake served in a mason jar. It was loaded with dried fruits which added texture. It was all covered in a “tipsy” whipped cream and toasted almonds. The presentation was beautiful and fun.

The second dessert was the sticky sorghum cake. The cake was covered in a toffee glaze. It was sweet and definitely sticky because of the glaze. It also came with a side of vanilla gelato. The gelato was covered in a powder that reminded me of crushed up ginger snap cookies.

If you are looking for a place to have Southern food made with a New York twist, then head to Tipsy Parson. Go with an empty stomach so you can enjoy everything! http://www.tipsyparson.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

I was in between meetings in the Theater District of New York so I decided to get a quick lunch. I had passed by Natsumi and thought a quick sushi lunch would be perfect.

It was a cute little space with a few tables.

  

There was space at the sushi bar so I grabbed a seat. It is fun for me to watch the chef’s make the sushi.

I started off with a bowl of miso soup. It was the typical soup, nothing special. But it was the perfect way to warm up from being out in the New York cold.

I ordered two rolls for lunch. I got a tuna avocado roll. The tuna was extremely fresh. It melted in my mouth when I took a bite. I ended up adding a little wasabi to make the tuna a little spicier. Then the creamy avocado balanced out the heat.

The other roll I ordered was the eel and avocado roll. I love eel at sushi restaurants. This eel was tender and cooked perfectly. They put a generous amount of the sweet eel sauce on top. It was the perfect complement to the tuna that I made spicy.

Natsumi was a great find on the streets of New York. It’s the perfect example of what New York is known for – the unexpected. If you are in the city, get out there and walk around. You never know what you will find.

Check out Natsumi at http://www.natsuminyc.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

 

New York has so many wonderful restaurants that have been around for decades. There was one place everyone told me I had to try – Junior’s. When I asked why they are so popular it was always the same response – the cheesecake. So upon hearing that consistent answer I knew it was a must visit for me.

I was lucky that one of their locations was near my hotel in Time Square. They were crowded when I got there but I did not have to wait too long for a table.

  

They have a pretty big menu. I knew I wanted to start with the matzo ball soup. It was that classic yellow broth that I knew would be salty. It came with egg noodles and one giant matzo ball. I had to cut into the matzo ball carefully so I would not cause the broth to spill. It was a bowl of classic comfort food.

For my main dish I wanted to try one of their famous steak burgers. I got mine with American cheese melted on top. The burger was huge. The meat was extremely juicy and had a great chargrilled taste. As an added bonus they toast their buns which adds a little extra crunch.

The burger also came with a side of onion rings and steak fries. The fries were nice and thick, classic diner style. The onion rings had a cornmeal like breading that made the onion rings sweet. It was almost like corn dog breading.

With the portions being pretty big, I was too full to have cheesecake while at the restaurant. I could not leave without a slice so I made sure I got one to go. They had an abundance of choices when it came to their cheesecake. To help make my decision, I went into their special room behind the red velvet curtains.

When I walked through I was greeted by two glass cases filled with different cheesecakes as well as other desserts. I called it a special room, but it was really a small take-out section of the restaurant.

   

I got the classic NY style cheesecake to go. No toppings, just pure cheesecake. When I got back to my hotel room I dove right in. It was so sweet and creamy. It had an extremely smooth texture and it was moist. Sometimes cheesecake can be dry but not this slice. It was perfect.

If you are in New York and have a sweet tooth or hungry for a great burger then head over to Junior’s. You will not be disappointed. If you want to get hungry now, check out their menu at www.juniorscheesecake.com

Enjoy!

T

 

New York City is known for being a melting pot of different cultures. A perfect example of this is the restaurant Spice Market, located in the Meatpacking District. Here you will find flavors from Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and India.

When you walk through the door you feel like you have been transported to an exotic land. Their décor captures the imagination with hanging lights, wooden pagodas, drums for seats, and candle light everywhere.

I started the evening off with one of Spice Markets creative cocktails – the Yule Mule (their take on a Moscow Mule). Adding the hibiscus liquor to it made the drink much sweeter than a typical mule. It really was delicious and added to the feeling like I was on vacation.

The menu may seem overwhelming since there are so many choices, it is best to have an idea what type of food you are in the mood for. The dishes at Spice Market are served family style, so whatever is ordered is shared with the table. I prefer this style of eating because it allows me to sample a variety of things.

The first two dishes that came out were the spring rolls and dumplings. The spring rolls were Vietnamese style with lobster, shrimp, and pork inside. The flavor was great and the wrapper had great crunch. The dumplings were mushroom and the sauce they came in was a paired nicely with mushrooms.

Before I could finish my dumplings the next two dishes arrived at the table. The grilled chicken satay was served with a Mandarin orange sauce. The chicken had a wonderful smoky grilled flavor that worked well with the sauce. That sauce was so good that I actually started dipping my spring roll in it. The other dish was the Hamachi crispy sushi with a chipotle mayo. I was expecting a sushi roll that was tempura fried but that is not what came out, which was a pleasant surprise. The fish sat on top of a thin layer of the chipotle mayo and a fried cube of rice. The fish was so fresh that it melted in my mouth. The rice was the star of the dish; it was super crispy on the outside but still moist on the inside. This dish was a nice change from typical sushi.

The final dish, which I would consider the main course, was a red curry duck in a pineapple sambal. The duck was extremely tender and tasted wonderful with the pineapple sambal sauce. The flavor was not dominated by the curry because of the sweetness of the pineapple. As a side I got a bowl of the ginger fried rice. It was simple with just a hint of ginger and was great to use up the extra pineapple sauce.

If you are interested in a unique experience I recommend checking out Spice Market. Just make sure you call ahead for reservations because they get busy. www.spicemarketrestaurants.com

Enjoy!

T