Tag Archives: blogger

Jul11

Buttermilk Channel: 524 Court Street. Brooklyn, NY

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Ah Buttermilk Channel. I’ve been meaning to visit you for SO long. Ever since I read the rave reviews in countless magazines and blogs and then found out that an old friend who I grew up going to summer camp with is the owner, I’ve been meaning to get there. It took me way too long to finally go and when the 3rd annual random friends brunch came around (a little party I throw every year where I post an open invite on my facebook wall and the first 10 to respond join me in the fun) I thought this was the perfect pick.

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by Doug’s (the owner) awesome wife and drink orders were taken while they got our table ready. My spicy bloody mary, complete with a homemade pickle spear, hit the spot. I LOVE horseradish, and this drink was bold and flavorful with a serious kick to it. The pickle was a cute, creative touch, so much more interesting than the typical piece of celery.

When we were seated, Doug was kind enough to send over some snacks to munch on while we drank, got acquainted, and looked over the menu. As you can see by my first picture, we were hungry. We chowed down on the treats way too quickly for me to remember to snap a picture. What you see there are the remnants of homemade pickles, walnut coffee cake and these incredible maple, bacon almonds that I seriously would have eaten all of if I wasn’t supposed to share with the others. Deeeeelicious.

The menu is a bit quirky, totally comfort-food oriented, and what I’d call down-home-creative. The big hit at the table were the pork chops over cheddar waffles, but everyone enjoyed their own meals as well. I shared the mushroom, spinach, goat cheese scramble and the pecan french toast. The scramble was awesome, especially the many different kinds of mushrooms, and I really enjoyed it. The salad and toast that came with it rounded out the meal nicely, but the little potato pancake was a bit on the greasy side for my taste. Very crunchy and hot though, and I’d imagine that people who didn’t grow up in Jewish families who make outstanding potato latkes would probably have loved it. The pecan pie french toast has been talked about on almost every review I’ve read so I felt like we had to try it. It was VERY sweet, made with fresh, delicious, thick-cut bread and served with a scoop of fluffy whipped cream or marscapone, or maybe whipped ricotta (oops, I forgot to ask) and covered with bourbon, molasses pecans. This dish WAS delicious, but I would really put it into a dessert category instead of a main course. I happen to have a pretty serious sweet tooth, and this was even a little too much for me.

The overall vibe of Buttermilk Channel couldn’t be more perfect. Hip, without being at all pretentious. Trendy, but also very chill. Relaxed, comfortable, warm, and the kind of place that locals must adore meeting at every Sunday. It’s a bit off the beaten path for me- over an hour to get there, but even so, I will probably be back. Many thanks to Doug for making this event super special, taking such good care of us, and welcoming us into his second home.

 

*photos courtesy of Gabriel Sanders. http://www.magicsandbox.com/enter/Magic_Sandbox.html

Jul11

Caputo’s Bake Shop: 329 Court St. Brooklyn, NY

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I believe my exact words after taking my first bite of this rainbow cake were, “Oh, holy shit!”.

I am a rainbow cake connoisseur. I do not kid around about these little cakes. I have been eating these since I was a wee one, and I take them very seriously. I have been on a continual quest to find the best ones in the world, and pretty much anytime I see them (as long as they don’t have <shudder> sprinkles on them) I have to buy one.

When G and I stumbled onto Caputo’s by chance, I recalled being told about it by a trusted friend of mine and knew that we must go in to sample my beloved pastries. I can emphatically and triumphantly declare that this happenstance was sent from the rainbow cake gods to me, with love. This is my new favorite. Yes, I know that is a bold statement, but I also know that not everyone uses real marzipan in between 2 of the layers, fresh jam and the most wonderfully almondy, moist, 3 colors of cake you could imagine. Wrap all of this up in high quality, dark chocolate and yes, you have true rainbow cake perfection.

Yes, there was another cookie. It WAS also delicious but c’mon, let’s acknowledge the facts. The rainbow cake made me say holy shit.

 

*photos courtesy of Gabriel Sanders. http://www.magicsandbox.com/enter/Magic_Sandbox.html

Jul11

EATS on Lexington: 1055 Lexington Ave. NY, NY

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Another ‘Scoop St.’ deal bought, and this one was a real winner! This is in a location that had been empty for a long time and I’d walked past a few times since it opened a couple of months ago. It’s right near the 77th st. subway which makes it a super convenient meeting spot. Although we had reservations, it was fairly quiet for a Saturday night and we got the best table in the place with no problem. I suppose that opening a restaurant on the Upper East Side (where a lot of the locals vanish to the Hamptons) in the middle of the summer makes it very tough to gain a new following, and they were really smart to use Scoop St. to try to bring new people in.

I have to take a second to rave about our server. Laisla (I’m probably spelling that wrong) was truly outstanding and seriously enhanced our experience. She clearly likes working here and had no problem getting genuinely excited telling us about her favorite dishes. Super friendly and charismatic, even if the food HADN’T been great, I’d almost consider going back just to be entertained by her again…but the bonus is, the food WAS great!

We had a deal where we got a martini, a burger, fries, and 6 oysters each for $22. SCORE. (normally double that price) The oysters were our choice of 2 east coast selections and they were freshly shucked and fantastic. The only thing I didn’t love was that each one sat on a bed of salt instead of the usual bed of ice. This added a salty slurp to each one that was unnecessary and a bit overpowering. The burger was AWESOME with caramelized onions and american cheese. I would have liked some other fancier cheese options- maybe gruyere or blue, but it was really excellent just the way it was…except maybe a little closer to medium-well than the medium I’d ordered. The fries, which were perfectly crispy when they came out well-done as requested, were impossible to not finish. The martini pretty much got me drunkity drunk drunk after 3 sips and the extra olives were super enjoyable once they’d soaked up the vodka.

The only disappoint was our dessert, the homemade marshmallow s’mores. Although the marshmallow looked beautiful, it was not hot and melty. The chocolate component was really more of a liquidy sauce than a melted chocolate bar. The one piece of graham cracker was store-bought, not made fresh. I would have been happier with a hershey bar and jet puffs…In her defense though, Laisla had not recommended this one- she gushed about the tres leches cheesecake, and had we not already been stuffed, we would have listened to her. Next time Laisla, next time.

 

*photos courtesy of Gabriel Sanders. http://www.magicsandbox.com/enter/Magic_Sandbox.html

Jul11

Maui Tacos: 330 5th ave. NY NY

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This was a pretty good choice for a snack for my boyfriend and I in a touristy, crowded area. It was empty, air conditioned, and relatively cheap, which at the time was pretty much enough to make me happy. When we saw the salsa bar with tons of choices (including a pineapple one that I especially liked) AND fresh cilantro (my favorite herb) I was sold. I ordered the marinated fish tacos and I have to say, they were better than I expected. This is a order-at-the-counter place, but it was a nice touch that they actually bring your tray of food over when it’s ready. I went over to the salsa bar and enjoyed filling many little cups with the various sauces and toppings. The white fish was grilled, not fried and shared the soft taco shell with fresh cabbage, cilantro and a mayo-y sauce that I could have gone without. It sat on top of some soggy yellow rice (not worth it) and black beans (a little salty but okay). This ended up being a lot more filling than a little snack, and was actually a pretty decent lunch. If I’m in the area, I ‘d probably return there.

 

*photos courtesy of Gabriel Sanders. http://www.magicsandbox.com/enter/Magic_Sandbox.html

Jul6

Vermicelli: 1492 2nd Ave. New York, NY

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This restaurant is literally 2 blocks from my apartment and yet, for some reason, it’s taken me 4+ years of living here to try it out. Last night was a great opportunity for it, out with a friend in super hot weather and we wanted something on the lighter/healthier side than Italian, Mexican or burgers- which is what else is close by.

Although there was plenty of outdoor seating available, we opted for the air-conditioned inside and were seated immediately. The decor is warm with maroons and burgundies, rich fabrics and golden lights.

The waiter immediately brought out menus, yummy, crunchy, rice crackers thingys with a sweet dipping sauce and filled our water glasses. The service remained fast, polite and attentive throughout our meal.

We decided to share a watercress salad with papaya and ginger dressing that was a perfect starter. Light, refreshing and not drowned in dressing.

Next we shared 2 entrees. One was the chicken with mango, cashew nuts and mushrooms and the other was the shrimp vermicelli with basil, mushrooms, ginger, snow peas, onions, chilies and peanuts. The chicken dish was pretty good- not amazing, but fine. The shrimp dish was WAY too spicy, we had specifically asked for it mild, and we had to send it back. They promptly re-made it and brought out a new one for us and we really enjoyed this dish. The flavors all went together very nicely, the ingredients were fresh and fragrant, and the shrimp were perfectly cooked. One thing I really love about Vietnamese food is that it’s really not greasy at all and there aren’t any super heavy sauces. You can really taste the clean flavor of each ingredient and on a really hot day, that’s exactly what I wanted.

Overall, I’d say this place is pretty good. Not fantastic, but for a local place it’s a good option. I don’t know if I’d really consider it to be authentic Vietnamese, I think it’s more the Upper East Side watered-down version, but again, worth a visit if you live up here.

Jun30

Wild Edibles, 535 3rd ave, NY, NY

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My dear friend and I bought a $60-of-food/drink-for-$30 deal on yelp.com and were really excited to go eat oysters to our hearts content. We had discussed buying 2 of the deals, but settled on one. Looking back, we should have gone for both…It was rather easy to eat and drink $120 worth there. We did notice a sign saying that from 12-6 every day they have $1 oysters at the bar and we made a mental note to return for that sometime.

When we arrived, we took in the bare-bones seafood market atmosphere, with tables so close together that they were essentially all connected and had to be pulled out to allow a person to squeeze into the wall-side seats. Nothing fancy here, but the freshest, most outstanding seafood and casual, friendly service. I love this kind of vibe in a restaurant. Nothing pretentious, no frills, no hype, just quality food.

We each had a glass of wine and some of the delicious bread while we figured out what to order. We decided to start with an array of 2 each of 6 different types of east coast oysters. Both of us prefer the sweet, juicy types over the briny (as Betsy would say “the-I-just-swallowed-a huge-mouthful-of-ocean-water type) so we stuck to those that had descriptions of lettuce-y, light , mild, clean, flavors. They arrived on the classic bed of shaved ice and with lemon, cocktail sauce and a vinaigrette. We slurped those babies down so fast that it surprised even me, and we went right ahead and ordered 12 more. This time we stuck to our 6 each of our 2 favs from the previous platter: the Blue Points and the Beau Soleils. The funny thing about oysters is that they fill a platter, but in reality they are really kinda small and not filling, so even after we’d each polished off a dozen, we were still hungry. We shared a field green salad that was kinda boring, but at least something green. Then we ordered the calamari- which was really fantastic with a light, crunchy batter and 2 kicky sauces. If our bill wasn’t already creeping up toward the roof, I think we could have easily ordered another dozen oysters but alas, you have to stop at some point.

I’ll be back for sure! Most likely to try some of the other offerings…the tables next to ours were enjoying their tuna tartare, grilled fish, mussels, lobster rolls and pasta dishes immensely and I got the feeling that you can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu. As we chatted with our waiter we learned that  they are the distributors for over 500 restaurants in the NYC area, and it’s no wonder why. Really top-notch seafood. Give them a shot.

Jun28

Chez Carey! Summer Shrimp Salad

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Wow. This was SUCH a winning experiment that I wanted to share it with you all. I’d been getting into a bit of a rut with my lunch salads and decided to change things up a bit today based on some cool ingredients that were on sale at Fresh Direct. I started by steaming some rock shrimp and chopping them up. I mixed those up with the following list of ingredients, let it sit for 15 minutes and then stuffed it into the emptied avocado shells and I must say, I have outdone myself with this one. 5 stars Carey, if I do say so myself!

:0)

As always, the amount of each ingredient is up to you. This, like ALL of my recipes, is merely a concept to by toyed with to your liking.

Chop and combine the following:

rock shrimp

english cucumber

radish

jicama

pineapple

grape tomatoes

baby bok choy

avocado

mint

cilantro

fresh ginger

Toss all of the above gently with:

the juice of a lime,

salt & pepper

a little olive oil

Let the salad sit and marinate for 15 minutes or so and then scoop into the emptied avocado shell for a pretty presentation.

YUM! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Jun27

Candle Cafe: 1307 3rd ave. New York, NY

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I avoided trying Candle Cafe for a long time because it’s the sister of Candle 79, a restaurant that I am, errr, less than fond of..see my review of it here: https://bigforkinmouth.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/candle-79-154-e-79th-st-new-york-ny/     It was my dear friend’s birthday though, someone I love to try healthy places with, and I’m always hearing from people I trust who adore Candle Cafe. I thought this provided the perfect occasion to give them a fair shot.

I’m SO glad that I didn’t write this one off! We were seated right away by the hostess and started looking, with wide eyes, over a menu that had WAY too many appealing choices on it. (this is a good thing) Everything sounded great, from the specials to the salads, sandwiches, entrees and smoothies…and I hadn’t even seen the dessert menu yet.

I settled on the special wrap of the day: An artichoke heart and arugula wrap with grilled lemon basil tofu, tapioca cheese, basil aioli wrapped in a spinach tortilla with a side salad and roasted tomato salsa. It was really SOOOOO good. YUM. The tofu was crisp on the outside and soft and creamy inside, the ‘diet’ cheese was flavorful and actually pretty interesting, the veggies were fresh and had nice texture to them and the basil aioli was sweet, spicy and delicious. The only complaint I had about this dish was that the side salad contained quite a few pieces of brown lettuce. Now, I understand that organic produce doesn’t always look as perfect as non-organic, but brown leaves are kind of pushing it as far as I’m concerned.

For dessert we shared (admittedly, I ate 80% of it) the chocolate mousse pie with a chocolate cookie crust. It was out-of-this-world. Kind of like a cheesecake, but somehow a bit lighter than that. It had a rich, dark chocolate flavor and a smooth consistency. No one is missing dairy here for sure!

The bill here was more-than reasonable and I really liked the casual, earth/animal-friendly atmosphere. The wait staff was super polite and attentive and the vibe was much more chill than it’s sister. I’ll leave Candle 79 for the wealthy UESers who can afford a $25 ounce of avocado. I will definitely be back!

Jun20

Omonia Cafe: 3220 Broadway, Astoria, NY

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When dinner time rolled around last night, G and I decided to wander into Astoria to find somewhere to eat. Although I AM a fan of little hole-in-the-walls that no one has discovered yet, I also find super-crowded places to be very appealing, holding trust in the masses. Omonia Cafe (although I must say  that I hate that the name sounds like ammonia, not at all appealing associated with food) was completely hopping late on a Sunday night, with tons of outdoor seating and a vibrant, lively scene.

We were seated right away at a sidewalk table and took a few minutes to peruse the large and varied menu. Everything from breakfast foods, to salads, to paninis and 3 pages full of pastries, ice creams and other desserts sounded great.

We shared the calamari to start, and it was hot out of the deep-fryer, certainly not one of the healthiest choices I’ve made, but ohhhh so worth it. Not too much breading, generous cuts of calamari and a very good marinara dipping sauce made a great starter and we cleaned the plate pretty quickly.

For my entree, I had a Greek salad that totally hit the spot. Perfect ratios of romaine, tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumbers, onions and feta with triangles of toasted pita on the side. The only bizarre thing was that they didn’t have any Greek dressing to go with it. Huh? Oh well, I ordered some ranch dressing but didn’t really like it and wound up using the red wine/vinegar that was on the table instead.

With 3 pages of dessert offerings, we really couldn’t leave without trying something…and being that we’d already had a fairly indulgent weekend, we decided one more overdo was at that point, not really a big deal. hahaha. So we ordered a peanut butter, hot fudge sundae and I got a really excellent cappuccino. Little did we know, the sundae was the size of a bowling ball. Somehow, we managed to do some pretty serious damage to it. Today, I am on no-sugar, eating only vegetables/fruits and fish…and feeling quite a bit less gross already 🙂

 

*photos courtesy of Gabriel Sanders. http://www.magicsandbox.com/enter/Magic_Sandbox.html

Jun20

Iron Horse Grill:

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Anyone who thinks you need to be in NYC to have an amazing 5 star meal, PLEASE go try this place. Up in suburban Pleasantville, NY in the old train station, is a lovely, small, incredible dining experience waiting for your visit. The owner, Philip McGrath, has a ridiculously impressive resume having chefed at many of NYC’s top restaurants, but as a family man he wanted  a quieter, more intimate setting to call his home. His attention to detail and integrity comes through as he comes out to personally meet each of his customers, engaging in friendly conversation, and making sure that every plate is perfect. It’s special touches like these that set Iron Horse apart from the sea of above average restaurants as far as I’m concerned.

Nothing trendy about the atmosphere here, just classic, traditional decor and wait staff who not only know their stuff, but clearly look at it as a career and not just as a job.

My mother and I were celebrating her birthday and since we have the same tastes in food, we decided to share all of the apps, entrees and dessert that we ordered. How wonderful was it that the kitchen was willing to half-plate everything for us so there was no clumsy plate-swapping involved? It was so luxurious to be served our 3 courses in what felt like a 5 course meal.

A lovely , fresh bread basket and crisp, green olives were brought out promptly to wet our already voracious appetites. The first course served was a chilled carrot/dill soup, complete with homemade, waffled potato chips and a small pile of delicious flaked crab. This soup was phenomenal and light- no cream, just the veggies and crab. Perfect for a warm summer evening.

Next we had the peakytoe crab with corn, avocado and caviar and WOW, this was a perfect dish. Also incredibly summer-ific, light and totally succulent. Each flavor stood on it’s own as well as complementing the others that sat beside it. One of the things I love about this chef is that he never overwhelms flavors with excessive seasoning or oil. The dishes are all quite healthy and unmasked and you really get to enjoy the flavor of each top-quality ingredient without disguise. The actual plating of this dish was really quite beautiful as you can see in my photos.

For our entrees we shared the sole over mashed potatoes and the special of the day: my favorite, soft-shelled crabs which were served over wild rice, fiddleheads and almonds. This was a remarkable dish- that stood out to me even among it’s exceptional menu-partners. I don’t think it’s possible to go wrong at this restaurant.

By this time we were SO full, but it WAS a birthday so we HAD to at least look at the dessert menu. And okay, maybe we didn’t exactly need our arms twisted to try the special of the day, a key lime pie with coconut sorbet. I was really glad we went for it, with it’s crisp meringue topping and the delightful coconut sorbet, this key lime was refreshing and as light as can be and perfectly polished off our outstanding meal. This is officially one of my all-time favorite restaurants and I would love to return.

If you are ever in the area, or want a lovely escape from the city, take metronorth up to Pleasantville and you are right there at the Iron Horse. You will thank me, I promise.