NYC Tastes

Thursday morning I woke up and had only one thing on the brain- croissants! I took a quick walk over to Poilane bakery and came home with breakfast for me and Mr. T. This little bakery really churns out some fantastic wares. The croissant had prefect fluffy innards with just the right amount of chew and the apple tart was off the charts. The dough was so buttery and crisp I could have sat there all day eating flaky bite after flaky bite. Of course I couldn’t help myself and stopped by Pierre Hermes on my morning walk as well! Some more delicious macarons and a special pastry the Vanilla Infinite Emotions. Seriously have you even seen a dessert that looks so beautiful and amazing? Three different types of vanilla were used for this dessert- Tahitian, Madagascar and Mexico- along with three different layers of frozen vanilla, baba with vanilla and mascarpone cream with vanilla. All the different layers and textures were pretty amazing to taste with each different kin...

I was so full after Bigarrade I swore I wouldn’t eat for days but after a two hour walk along the Champs-Elysees, another hour walk over to the Eiffel Tower and about 2 more hours back near our hotel, I was pretty sure I had worked off at least four of the eight courses we had eaten earlier. My feet were absolutely killing me (I did all that walking in heels….what was I thinking) so I needed a place nearby. Mr. T had one request- Duck Confit. I knew this was something Café de Flore would have so the decision was made. It was packed outside but neither of us had any problem sitting inside. “Sitting” was the only thing we needed…and wine. A wonderful bottle of Saint Emilion later, my feet were finally beginning to feel like normal again and I was even ready for some food. I ordered Le Jockey which is really just a Croque Monsieur. I had a lot of Croques on this trip and this one was quite delicious. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of Mr. T’s Duck Confit but he loved it....

I woke up day two in Paris and bolted out of bed. I couldn’t believe I had just run across Pierre Hermes yesterday no problem and today we were going to Bigarrade! It seemed like a dream! And if anything seems like a dream it’s walking into Bigarrade. The tiny space was so inviting. White walls, yellow flowers on each table with corresponding colors at the bottom of each water glass…what’s not to love. We decided this was a special occasion so we each ordered a glass of fabulous champagne. There are two menus for lunch an eight course tasting or twelve, all done by the chef with allergies as the only restriction. I thought twelve would be too much food for lunch so we went with eight and set off on our journey of food. ** Please note I did the best I possibly could with the descriptions but with no menu and a language barrier it was very difficult to translate this entire meal** We began with an amuse bouche of salty Focaccia Bread with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This was such...

Tuesday morning we awoke, checked out and took the tube over to the Eurostar station. Last time we were at this station, I had ridiculously heavy croissant that started out a really rough food day. So rough I ended up on the bathroom floor sick for about 8 hours in Brussels. That being said we went past the croissant place and instead stopped at the Betjeman Arms where I decided to order a proper English breakfast. I had been wary of stomach woes all week and now I had a dish of runny green eggs, strange grotesque slab bacon, a fat sausage, stewed tomatoes and beans. WTF! This station had it out for me! I don’t know what I was thinking with my order but I’ll tell you I enjoyed the toast that’s about it. Mr T loved his Bacon sandwich but I honestly think he was still a little drunk from the night before so you can’t believe him. After our meal we leisurely strolled about, a little to leisurely since all of a sudden they called final boarding for our train and we had to m...

Monday morning the rain had subsided finally so we walked across the Waterloo Bridge did some shopping at the Jubilee Market and walked around near the Royal Opera House. When hunger set in I had a huge craving for meat and cheese for some reason. Luckily the answer was just around the corner. Terriors Wine Bar is a cute little place focusing on natural French wines and small plates of food. Just look at this gorgeous plate of Piero Montali Prosciutto Di Parma Riserva. We had some delicious bread and butter alongside. And did three cheese as well Fourme D’Ambert, Comté and unfortunately I don’t remember the third but they were all from France and all sublime. A special Sweet Corn Chowder soup was being offered that day and the rich, bubbling bowl was a welcome and satisfying addition to our meal. We sat there for about two hours sipping wine, nibbling food and just completely taking a time out from the day. It was just lovely. I was in desperate need of dessert af...

We woke up Sunday and did some touring around our area and then took the train out to Kentish Town. This isn’t a usual tourist stop. It seemed as it was mostly residential and reminded me a bit of some parts of Brooklyn. The reason for the trip was the restaurant and gastropub The Bull and Last. This little place had quite a bustling bar downstairs and then a serene dining area upstairs where the sunshine filled the room and portraits of dogs and horses filled the walls. As soon as we sat down we both knew this was exactly what we had been looking for. London had been so packed the last two days with people it had been hard to think straight. I was ready for a relaxing Sunday. Once again a Rose for me and for Mr. T a pint of Stiegel. We began our meal with some Trotter Wontons with Sweet Chili. Mr. T absolutely loved these. It’s was pig’s foot done Chinese take out style- what’s not to love. Sundays in London are reserved for a nice big roast and who are we to a...

Once the rain started we took the Tube over to Craft Beer Co. Unfortunately we miscalculated the walk and got completely soaked. It was bad- I mean head to toe soaked. Oh well it was made somewhat better by the fantastic selection of 16 cask beers, keg craft beer and about 300 bottled beers at the bar. This place specializes in beer from all over the world and they just happened to be highlighting Southampton beers that day. Of course who goes to London to get a beer they can have in NY? Instead I enjoyed an awesome red lager from the UK while Mr. T had an Espresso Porter . We stayed at Craft Beer until the rain let up and decided we could maybe do one more pub before our dinner at St. John’s. The rain had stopped but there were huge puddles and slick streets left over. We were walking down one road decorated with some shiny stones and well those stones were like stepping on a banana peel because Mr. T took one step and went down hard. I have no idea how his iPhone didn’t get...