NYC Tastes

After a huge lunch at the river Café we spent the rest of the day walking around the city and stopping off here and there for some tasty alcoholic beverages and people watching. Until finally it was time to eat again! Hooray!!! Although I had someone visiting I really wanted to go somewhere new. Luckily I had talked about wanting to check out Café Habana earlier in the week and Mr. Pruner remembered. “Let’s go check out that sandwich place.” It’s not really just a sandwich place- more like a Cuban Sandwich place! “Hell Yeah!” We showed up and noticed a crowd of people outside. I put in my name and was told the wait would be about 20 minutes. We were milling around the idea of walking over to Freeman’s when she came out and said our table was ready! We only waited two minutes! One thing Café Habana doesn’t have much of is space. However living in NYC you learn quickly to cram in beside your neighbor and just enjoy. We ordered a couple of Corona’s and our first dish arrived- the Gr...

Friday we headed over to DUMBO to celebrate restaurant week at the River Café. The River Café is a gorgeous place right on the water with a stunning view of lower Manhattan. I’d been here a couple of times before but never for their restaurant week and I was excited. We were a little early for our reservation so we stopped off first at Almondine to pick up the best Almond Croissant in the city for Mr. T who was working Then we headed over to Jacque Torres to drool a little as the smell of chocolate slowly enveloped us. Then a last stop to Five Front for a drink in an attempt to cool down from the humid weather. We walked into River Café and got a nice two seater right by the window. I couldn’t help but notice they added another row of seats to the space. I assume they want to pack it in for restaurant week. It made the space a little tight but still quite manageable. We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and perused the menu. One thing I thought was a little strange was that our bread...

One of my oldest and dearest friends, the Pitted Pruner, came down for his semi-annual visit this past weekend. I love when Pruner visits because he enjoys doing exactly what I love most; walking around the city and eating lots of food. He flew in Thursday night and we began our food weekend at NYC institution Lombardi's with a large pie, half Pepperoni and half Sweet Sausage. I love Lombardi's pie because it has a slightly sweet sauce, the perfect amount of cheese and the best pepperoni in the city. See how it's curled up at the edges? It's slightly charred and super crispy.  Last visit I thought the crust was slightly soggy in the middle, so I ordered it extra crispy. This time the dough was perfect, with a great foldable middle and wonderful crunchy exterior.  We decided to be a bit more adventurous with our second pie and chose Ricotta Cheese, Meatball and Garlic Spinach. Whoa, look at this pie! It looks like it's covered in little mounds of mashed potato. Those...

Sunday was out last full day to enjoy Provincetown so after chowing down on those wonderful malasadas we decided that one more meal of fresh lobster was in order.  We just happened to be right next door to the Lobster Place enjoying some drinks at a dive bar so I figured why the hell not. I heard the lobster was some of the best in town if you could handle the touristy, family atmosphere. Luckily we got seated upstairs right near the bar so most of the tables around us were people more our age and we had a little bit more space to move around than in the packed dining room.  They started us out with a nice bread basket filled with Pumpkin Squares and Some White Rolls. Their soup sounded really good so we ordered the Lobster Bisque and Clam Chowder. Wow this is one of the best Lobster Bisque I have ever tasted. It had a wonderful sweet aroma and a rich velvety texture that was simply perfect. Usually I feel weighed down by all of the cream in bisque but this one so...

Walking around Provincetown on Sunday with the ladies I needed something sweet. I had heard about this Portuguese Bakery in town so we headed over there.  As soon as I saw these in the window I knew it would be the perfect fix. Malasada's!!!! OMG Imagine some fried dough from the fairs when you were little and make it taste about 10 times better.  Look at how huge this thing is!!! The Malasada was piping hot and had the perfect ratio of crunchy outside crust and doughy warm innards all lightly dusted with cinnamon and sugar.  Can you say YUM!!!! It literally melted in my mouth! I have been dreaming about this pastry ever since that day. Apparently they sell these stuffed with custard as well. Thanks God my thighs didn't see those! I probably would have bought 10.  I must find a place like this in the city. Anyone know a place?

I got together with my three favorite people in the world this past weekend for a fun girls vacation in Provincetown. Our first night out in the town we decided to head to a nearby place called Pepe's for some food and drink.  Pepe's is located right on the water so we were seated with a nice table overlooking the ocean. We started off with an appetizer of Conch Fritters. I have yet to find Conch Fritters anywhere near as good as the ones I've had in Key West and these ones didn't quite live up to that standard either but they were still tasty.  The outside was perfectly fried golden brown but the inside meat was a little bit tough. I would have enjoyed something a bit lighter but they were still pretty tasty.  For my main I ordered the Lobster Salad. This was perfect. The lobster meat was tender and held together by just a smattering of mayo.  My friend got the same salad made with Crabmeat. This was also really good but I enjoyed mine more. Crab is real...

I had a fun filled weekend out in Provincetown with my girls and came home exhausted last night. I decided I needed another day to recuperate so I took Tuesday off and relaxed. Being that it's restaurant week I figured, what's more relaxing than a nice lunch by myself? So I went out! I was planning to check out Union Square Cafe but when I went inside the entire bar was full. I didn't want to sit at a table as a solo diner so I walked over to Gotham Bar and Grill instead. Gotham was completed reserved as well but there were a couple seats at the bar. I placed my order and took a moment to enjoy the atmosphere. This was my first time in Gotham and I have to say the room is beautiful. The main dining area is somewhat sunken with a large window in the back and front of the restaurant that allows some natural sunlight to stream in. Being that it was restaurant week I ordered three courses. First up my appetizer the Watermelon and Tomato Salad. I was excited by the pretty presen...