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Showing posts from July, 2010

RW at the Central Park Boathouse

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After a lovely meal at the Modern the night before I woke up to a beautiful day of warm weather and bright sun. The humidity had finally dropped and it was actually bearable outside. I did a bunch of errands and then decided to walk through Central Park to my final destination the Boathouse. I got into the park about 2:00 by the Plaza and my reservation wasn’t until 3:30. I thought I would walk up and see if I could get in early. Well that didn’t happen. A half hour later and I’m lost. Somehow I ended up going west when I thought I was going east. Then when I figured that out I ran into the bramble and got lost again. By the time I finally found the boathouse my feet were covered in dirt, my hair was drenched in sweat and I was right on time for my 3:30 reservation. I had to wait a moment to be seated so I grabbed a glass of wine from the bar. Luckily I did because my server was pretty non-existent at first. I waited for a good 10- 15 minutes to place my order and I was starting to

Some Seriously Weird Stuff at Brother Jimmy’s

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This review is actually from a couple weeks back but somehow I forgot to report on these crazy drinks and I just feel the need to because they look so strange. We met up with friends for the World Cup finale only to find Stout completely packed hours before the game. We were in desperate need of a back up bar so we ended up inside Brother Jimmy’s right near MSG. We actually had a friend working at MSG that day so the location worked. We were starving when we arrived so we ordered up some apps to share. Here’s a look at the Nacho’s. These were actually pretty good as far as the appetizers went. There was a good amount of cheese and toppings but the chips seemed to stay surprisingly crispy for the most part. The chicken finger appetizer was very weak. The breading was too peppery and the chicken itself just had a funky flavor. The craziest part of our meal however came later when we decided to change from beers to mixed drinks. I ordered a Myrtle Beach raspberry margarit

Restaurant Week at the Modern Bar Room

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Finally! The past 3 years I’ve been trying to get a RW reservation at the Modern and with no luck. I always waited until the restaurant list was revealed and reservations “officially” were available. Somehow they were already booked by then! This year I got smart and made the reservation 30 days in advance in hopes that the Bar Room would again participate. My advanced booking paid off and Wednesday night we met some friends and sat down for dinner. Looking over the wine list I was surprised and happy to see so many affordable bottles. We opted for a very inexpensive Chardonnay and us ladies were happy with the choice.  The men were not into wine that night so both of them ordered a special Sixpoint beer the Dr. Klankenstein. I won’t go into the whole process but this beer is basically brewed by heating large rocks until red hot and then throwing them into a cauldron with the beer and continue heating over a log fire. You can read more about it here . I have to say I thought it w

Pignoli’s at Court Street Bakery

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I was walking around Cobble Hill the other day, looking for something new and exciting for lunch when I passed by Court Street Bakery. I can’t imagine how many times I must have walked right by this place and never stopped in. I peered through the front window and saw an array of Italian delights. Knowing that Mr. T loves pignoli cookies I stopped in to see if they had any available. It took a few minutes for the woman to retrieve my cookies from the fridge so I munched on a piece of free almond biscotti while I waited and enjoyed the ambiance of an old school Brooklyn bakery. Everyone coming in around me were obviously regulars and chatted each other up while ordering fresh filled cannoli’s and decadent looking éclairs. When my cookies arrived the first thing I noticed was the amount of pine nuts on top. Almost every inch of this cookie was covered. Then I noticed the size of the cookie. From the top it looked normal but the sides were clearly much thicker than your norm

Restaurant Week Brunch at Lure

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We had quite a jam packed and scalding hot weekend in NYC. Friday night we went to the Yankee game which began with an emotional tribute to Steinbrenner and Bob and ended with a thrilling walk off home run by Swisher. Saturday we took the train up to Westchester and spent the day where Mr. T grew up. His parents put on a fantastic spread of burgers, dogs, porterhouse steaks, and a ton of really good beer. Unfortunately I haven’t had a lot of really good beer in a while and all of those high octane drinks really caught up with me. I woke up Sunday feeling a little like a truck ran over me. I contemplated cancelling our lunch date but after a nap and lots of water I decided I could make the trek. We got to Lure at 2:30 and the place was packed. Our friends showed up right on time and we got a table near the sushi station. Luckily I wasn’t the only one feeling under the weather. My friend had also had a few too many beers the night before and we were determined to find a way t

Brooklyn Bridge Calexico Cart

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For some ridiculous reason I decided Friday to walk all the way down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and try out the new Calexico Cart. It’s only about a 15-20 minute walk, but in the 95 degree heat with 80% humidity I was a hot sweaty mess by the time I arrived. I think the heat kept a lot of people away so I was the only one in line. I think it’s always best to try the original first so I ordered the Carne Asada Taco. The taco was done in less than two minutes and despite the small size of the cardboard carrier, this taco had a ton of stuff inside. Two flour tortillas held big chunks of marinated steak, some fresh pico de galo and a luscious avocado cream sauce. The steak was very well cooked. I was a little worried I would get some stringy, chewy meat like from some carts, but this retained a moist soft quality. I wish there was a little bit more greens and tomatoes, but I can't be too picky with the slim lunch options in this neighborhood. A little spritz of lime and my l

A Fried Food Feast at Paris Cafe

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We met up with friends down in the touristy seaport area last week and hung out at a bar that I never knew existed- the Paris Café. Located right across from the New Amsterdam market area I must have passed this a million times and just never noticed. Much to my amazement this place has been around since 1873 and has had quite the guest list. Thomas Edison, Butch Cassidy and Theodore Roosevelt are just a few of the people said to frequent his place over the years. Apparently when the fish market was still thriving at the Seaport this place was supposed to do some excellent seafood. Unfortunately now that’s gone, the menu read more like your average bar fare. Somehow we ended up splitting all the fried appetizers on the menu. First up were the popcorn shrimp. They gave us a very generous portion of these little guys but unfortunately the breading was a little bit too heavy for my tastes. Talk about some heavy breading the chicken fingers were the most fried fingers I’ve ever h

Spot Dessert Shop

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As you all know I am a huge dessert freak. So when Pichet Ong opened up his new dessert spot in the East Village (called interesting enough Spot) I knew I had to check it out. Located downstairs on busy St. Mark’s street this place is very easy to miss amongst the little jewelry shops and touristy vendors. I had planned to order one of Pichet’s signature desserts but nothing on the menu really inspired me that day. Instead I glanced over the items in the dessert case and immediately the cupcakes jumped out at me. Sparkly tops! I have no idea what they did to make the frosting like this but I was sold right away. I ordered the Vanilla Caramel Vietnamese Coffee Cupcake. Biting into the frosting I immediately got a blast of full on strong espresso bean flavor. The rich creamy frosting was absolutely wonderful! It was one of the most grown up cupcakes I've ever tasted. Once I got to the middle of the cake I hit some filling. To this day I have no idea what it was.

Restaurant Week at Maialino

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It’s that time of year again! The time of year when I take a lot of half days at work and punch a further hole in my belt to make room for restaurant week lunching. This past Tuesday was my first summer RW meal and I had a reservation at Maialino. I looked online at the menu and was so excited to see their ever so famous chicken and fried artichokes being offered. It was an absolute downpour when I made my way over and I arrived somewhat soaked. My friend was running late so I took a seat at the bar and watched the sheets of rain as it pummeled the outside. The restaurant was packed and when my friend showed up about 15 minutes later we were given a table in the back corner. Now I’m going to admit our service was pretty shaky at first. We waited for well over five minutes before getting our menus and another 10 before ordering our wine. However we were 15 minutes late so I’m sure that affected their staggered seating technique. Then we had a little snafu with an incorrect wine but

New Dessert at Panya!

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I stopped into Panya the other night, hoping for something sweet to catch my eye when I saw this. A new dessert! A Berry Berry mousse! Wow this was so incredibly delicious. The top half is a smooth creamy mousse with a refreshingly tart raspberry flavor. Under that is a big layer of crushed almonds and almond paste, which give the whole dessert a salty, nutty crunch. The addition of halved macarons on the side and you have a wonderful and exciting treat. Not to mention quite lovely as well!