Food Adventuring Around NYC
The Place: I am not generally a fan or frequent visitor of Midtown steakhouses. I worked at one for many years and I think I’ve had my fill of artery-clogging overindulgence. Plus, most are very corporate, absurdly expensive, and more about the location than the food itself. I figured I’d make an exception with Cuerno …
THE SPOT: I stumbled upon a bight blue storefront in Williamsburg the other day that I thought had to be a pizzeria or Italian spot. The name Paolina threw me off. But I saw a big sign that advertised falafel. Turns out this spot, which is destined to be a hit with the Instagram set, …
THE PLACE: Bar Goto is a narrow unmarked cocktail den in the Lower East Side that has become legendary in the craft cocktail world. The bar is the main centerpiece, but a few intimate tables wrap around it and a serious, but casual mood is set by the expert bartenders and wait staff. It’s both …
PICKLE CULTURE IS ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE COLUMBUS CIRCLE HOLIDAY MARKET THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2024. I didn’t realize pickles were such a holiday market thing, but we now have at least our second pickle stand at the local Holiday Markets around the city. Years ago, I discovered Pickle Me Pete in Bryant Park and upon …
Somehow along the way, mushrooms became my absolute favorite food. Their earthy woodsy umami flavors won me over and at this point, if a restaurant has fungi on the menu, I’m ordering it. But it becomes much more difficult for me when everything on the menu is a mushroom. That is both the curse and …
I hope Ras Plant Based succeeds on Bleecker Street, but I am cynical. It seems to me that this block of Bleecker between Sixth Avenue and LaGuardia is one of the most difficult streets to keep a small food business going. I can’t tell you how much turnover I have seen in the years that …
Celtuce is not a vegetable we encounter terribly often in this country, but that is our loss. I first encountered it on the menu of a hip restaurant I worked at that lasted about a minute before it closed down (not because of the celtuce dish). It’s entered my culinary world a few times since, …
Surprise food stands are the best. We were visiting the Brooklyn Botanical Garden this weekend for our annual cherry blossom peeping. My son demanded a treat from a Mr. Softee truck and I got lucky by catching this new “summer house” during their soft opening. Aunts et Uncles is a Caribbean plant based café in …
Gertrude’s is the latest Brooklyn-centric restaurant with a focus on classic New York Jewish food. Of course, here it’s upgraded and refined so the prices are far from what you would have seen in the “good old days”. But I’ve more than accepted that that is the case nowadays and I understand why. Since Gertrude’s …
In their old space, I think I may have worked my way through Superiority Burger’s menu of inventive vegetarian fast food. I’m a bit ashamed that I hadn’t been able to visit them in their new location until now. This spring, they came back in a much larger space (with wait staff) in an old …
SADLY, SUNDAY C&C EATERY IS NOW CLOSED. My yearly resolution for some time now has been to eat less meat. I’m not ready to go full vegan (but wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself there in the future), yet I am eager and more than willing to try as many of the plant-based New York …
It used to be BBQ ribs and then for a while it was chicken wings, but now it’s mushrooms. If these items are on a restaurant menu, it will be very difficult for me to not order them. So when I checked out the online menu from the recently opened vegetable-forward The Wesley and saw …
This corner space in Fort Greene right outside the subway space is prime real estate. Pretty awesome and amazing that it now hosts its second hip vegan fast food chain. I do miss Broccoli Bar quite a bit, but no doubt the Atlanta-based Slutty Vegan has garnered more of a cult following with Tik Tok …
I’m counting down the 10 best dishes I tasted in 2022… Ever since the great pandemic of two years ago (the one that is, yes, technically still raging), I am very grateful for another year immersing myself in the food of NYC. Yes, lots has changed. I’m not able to as freely get to the …
Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City I really liked Pure Grit and I think there is an audience out there for it, but I have to wonder if this sort of random block on Lexington Avenue is the place. When putting this …
Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City I’m not vegan, although I appreciate the movement and find myself drawn to vegan restaurants because the dishes are often more creative and surprising than the typical omnivorous restaurants. That’s why I was truly excited when I …
Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City We should all be getting our produce at local farms, markets, or through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). One of the most popular CSA’s that serves Brooklyn neighborhoods just south of Atlantic Avenue is Local Roots. They’ve been …
Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City I am always excited by dishes that make you think you’re getting one thing but then when you taste it or learn more about it, you find out you’re getting something else entirely. Wau is a …
Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City SADLY, THE BROCCOLI BAR IS NOW CLOSED. By now you have probably heard all the jokes about avocado. There were even numerous restaurants and cafes where their concepts were “All Avocado All the Time.” Hilarious, right? But did …
Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City Guevara’s feels as new modern Brooklyn as it gets. It’s a vegan Mexican-inspired all day café (from the folks behind Mekelburgs) but it’s also a coffee shop, grocery and plant store!!! They take the plant diet to a …