NYC Tastes

The family week continued after Upland with a stop at the Arlo Rooftop for a bottle of rose and then onto an itzakya dinner at Sake Bar Hagi before the Book of Mormon.  Monday we decided to uptown to my fathers favorite place in the city for lunch Cafe Sabarsky.  This gorgeous restaurant is styled after the great Viennese Cafes from the turn of the century.  In addition to hearty platters of Bavarian Sausage and Wiener Schnitzel, Sabaraky is the perfect spot to indulge in some wonderful desserts. My father and I always get the same thing the beautiful Klimttorte, a chocolate and hazelnut layer cake studded with smooth chocolate ganache and a shiny gold leaf.  It's a rich, elegant dessert that pairs perfectly with one of their strong Viennese coffees. My Mom always gets the classic Apple Strudel while my brother tried out the Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, a light chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries.  I honestly don't think there's any dessert he...

I bought my father a gift certificate to Café Sabarsky for Christmas last year and he never used it. My parents came to visit NYC and the gift certificate sat at home. Obviously he had forgotten it and unfortunately it had an expiration date. So instead of coming to visit again they sent it back to me to use. Nothing like buying your own birthday present! So Monday afternoon I realize the certificate is set to expire that day. I had just had a huge food weekend what with Five Points, Millieseme and Gramercy Tavern but I figured what the hell- I’m going anyway. I swear most brides-to-be try to lose 10 pounds before their wedding. I’ve decided to do the exact opposite and put 10 on. So I went to Sabarsky right after work and got there around 4:45. I knew they closed at 6:00 on Mondays and the place was pretty empty already. I was able to get a table right by the window and I started out with a lovely glass of Gemischter Satz. This is a very crisp white wine with so much ...

I was lucky enough to have my Dad in town for his birthday last week. He and my Mom came down for a quick visit after a wedding in Connecticut over the weekend. Mr. T’s parents joined us for a fun dinner Sunday of mussels and beers at BXL and then Monday it was time to celebrate my Dad! It was a cold and rainy day in the city for sightseeing so what better to do then go for a relaxing fabulous lunch! Café Sabarsky is one of the two places in the city my father loves to eat at. We got there right around 12:00 pm and the place was packed but we were the first in line. After about a half hour wait, the line now snaking around the gallery, we were seated at a beautiful table overlooking Central Park. I was off for the day and about to consume sausage so a beer was in order. I had an old favorite the Franziskaner Weisse. Mr. T and I visited this brewery in Munich and loved it! It’s the perfect thick, malty brew for what I was about to eat. This is the Weisswurst mit Breze...

My parents were in town this weekend visiting for the first time since last September. My father is a dessert manic and came across Cafe Sabarsky last time they were in town and fell in love with the place. So we headed over there early on Friday and grabbed some dinner. Cafe Sabarsky is actually inside of the Neue Galerie which displays German and Austrian artwork. The cafe serves mainly Viennese food with a big focus on desserts. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry since we had a big lunch at the Spotted Pig earlier (which I'll post about later) so I just ordered the Dill and Cucumber Salad. This was a great dish fit for the extremely hot day we were having. The yogurt sauce was light and the cool cucumbers and tomatoes just tasted really refreshing. Although the dill was a prominent feature of the dish, it was on the lighter side. I had some bites of my parents Bavarian sausages and they were both very good. But come on. The really great stuff here is the desserts. I orde...

My parents came to visit for the weekend, which is always the best excuse to eat out for every meal of the day! Thursday night we went to Alta and had a fantastic meal. We showed up right around 8:00 with no reservation and were seated immediately right near the fireplace on the first floor. We ordered too many things to write about but I'll give you the favorites of the table. Spinach salad with dried cherries was great- those 2 flavors go together so well together. Goat cheese w/ honey, confit of pork tenderloin, lamb meatballs and Moroccan spiced cashews (so good we ordered 2) were all fantastic. The 2 potato dishes, one with paprika and one with trout creme fraiche I wouldn't order again. Just not very tasty. Overall though a great meal. My only complaint was the pacing of the dishes. We got about 5 dishes at once literally 2 minutes after we had ordered. They kept coming in this sort of fashion. There was barely enough room on the table for them all. I wish they would ma...