Food Adventuring Around NYC
You’ve heard of ramen at this point. And you probably have even heard about the real ramen (not the stuff you subsisted on during college). But what about tsukemen? That has yet to become a household name. Tsukemen is the cousin of ramen and if Okiboru has anything to say about it, you’ll be hearing …
Bread and cheese is the dish this week? Not even a grilled cheese? That’s right. I was seduced by the art of simplicity and high quality ingredients at an undersung gem of a bakery in Midtown. I have visited Pavé three times now to try everything from their mushroom flatbread to the passionfruit brioche. All …
I love, love raw oysters on the half-shell, but I would rarely pick a plate of them as a dish of the week here in NYC, because they don’t usually reflect much more than good sourcing and storage. Sure, a chef has to be able to shuck them well and serve them quickly. There is …
When I was focused on my best dumplings in New York search, I was mostly concentrating in the multiple Chinatowns in New York City. Of course, there were a few spots scattered around the city that I examined, but the hub of it was around Canal Street, Flushing, Sunset Park, or Elmhurst (yes, I know …
I probably should have saved this post until Halloween next year, but I didn’t want to wait 5 months to share this bold unique Thai soup with you lucky readers. Forget about that activated charcoal craze of a few years ago, this naturally pitch black dish is a Thai specialty that you do not find …
You might think Whipped is never open. Every time I walk by the trendy ice cream shop adjacent to the Tenement Museum, its grates are down. Could this place really be only open in the evenings for the late night crowd? Doesn’t anybody eat ice cream in this neighborhood during the day? Turns out they …
I remember when this corner was Matty & Weg’s. The storefronts in the neighborhood of Cobble Hill change as fast as any other neighborhood in NYC, but lately, it seems like it has been for the better. Despite heartbreaking closures (like the recently shuttered Esposito’s Pork Store), the residents manage to mostly keep out the …
I mean if you travel to a place like Colombia and miss the street food, you kind of missed the entire reason to come to Colombia. On our week-long stay in Cartagena, we ate all sorts of fruits from carts and even drank some coffee. But, clearly the real deal was at the Frito carts. …
Once our taxi pulled up to the beachfront shack full of locals, we knew we had found the right place. We spent a week in the Colombian city of Cartagena, right on the Caribbean Sea. We saw fortresses, gorgeous beaches, plenty of churches, and lots of food vendors. Just like Lima, there are some fancy …
I never thought we would get so fancy on this journey, but tonight we had lobster in a vanilla butter sauce. Courtesy of a former French colony where both lobster and vanilla are plentiful on possibly the most beautiful smelling country in the world. Comoros produces vanilla, cloves, and the ylang ylang flower which is …
I totally stumbled onto something special the other weekend. Mắm had been on my list for a while as a new place to try. Their specialty are bowls of bun da (vermicelli rice noodles with an array of sides to dip) and on this particular Saturday, a bowl of noodle soup sounded great. I walked …
One of my favorite parts of vacations in Mexico, aside from the beach, mezcal, and the ability to practice Spanish, is the breakfast at the hotels. Without fail, we are offered a plate of what some might call nachos. In reality, these are chilaquiles and they are a great way to eat chips for breakfast. …
That corner spot in front of a busy subway station is prime real estate for a quick and fast NYC joint. And Flé Flé Grill lucked out here when they opened in 2018. Set up like a Mediterranean Chipotle, this is quick and cheap and on the healthier side of fast food. I hear good …
Potluck Club is one of those new Asian restaurants designed to feel a bit like a night market. It’s a very welcoming intriguing ambiance when you step inside. It lies in a unique area of the city that is really where Chinatown and the Lower East Side come together. You can see the hip LES …
If you haven’t strolled through the concourse at Rockefeller Center since the pandemic, you may not recognize it. Where once stood chain coffee shops, generic tourist restaurants, and clothing stores, you can now find a series of high end restaurants brought to you by local food celebrities. There are some exciting destination dining options at …
The number of exciting new Thai restaurant openings continues. It’s amazing how much the Thai scene has expended in this city in just a few years. We’ve always had good Thai options, but it’s gotten a bit difficult to keep up lately. In the best possible way. One of my new go-to recommendations for a …
SADLY, MIGHTIES IS NOW CLOSED. I remember when the first Smashburger restaurant opened in New York. It was in downtown Brooklyn and was treated as an exciting culinary discovery. Looking back, it’s pretty hilarious that anybody went crazy for this now ubiquitous chain. However, who could have imagined that many years after that first NYC Smashburger …
Sound the alarms! The best new brewery in NYC is one that has been flying under-the-radar and sadly does not yet have a physical location for you to drink all their beers. That’s why I recommend stocking up on their five offerings to date and doing a tasting at home. Back Home Beer is an …
It’s not only the presence of the flower most associated with love that won this croissant the Valentine’s Day pick for Dish of the Week. It also happens to come from a hip, new bakery owned by a husband and wife team who put a bit of love in all their baked goods. Librae Bakery …
My search for the best pizza in New York continues…. Ace’s in Williamsburg has that very old-school nostalgic vibe that we’ve come to expect from hip modern NYC pizzerias. It also has the other thing we’ve come to expect: thick Detroit-style pizza.
