All posts tagged: NYC restaurants

Torrisi Turkey, Part 1

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Torrisi Italian Specialties, located in Nolita (North of Little Italy) in Manhattan and owned by Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, has quickly become a cult favorite.  Dozens of people, tourists and locals, are lined up at all time around lunchtime and dinnertime each day to get a look, feel, and bite of some of the finest Italian-American soul food in New York.  The shelves inside are lined with many of the grocery staples used in their house recipes, including Progresso seasoned breadcrumbs, breadsticks from Parisi Bakery, plastic Polly-O ricotta containers, and Stella D’Oro cookies.  Rock and classic soul and blues music flows through the air.  The cooks and cashier wear little white paper hats as they work an amazingly teeny kitchen, prepping and assembling to order.  All against the backdrop of old-school deli menus hung on white subway tile.  You can’t help but notice all of these things as you’re surely waiting in line, salivating, jealous as you watch others sitting at the hard-to-snag tables grinning as their orders freshly arrive.  But you find joy …

Revenge is Sweet Indeed

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Over three years ago, my friend Marlo Scott opened a cupcake, beer, and wine bar in NYC’s West Village, Sweet Revenge.  Marlo and her team have been baking gorgeous, sophisticated, and utterly delicious cupcakes with such flavors as Crimson & Cream, Pure, Dirty, and artisinal goodies like Very Strawberry, Fleur de Sel, and Bird of Paradise for some very happy customers.  Many things make Marlo’s cupcakes exceptional–my favorites are in the details: high-quality butter, Mexican vanilla, brown parchment paper wrappers.  For this post, I chose to highlight the other yummy offerings from Sweet Revenge, specifically her new breakfast menu.  Here again I was blown away by the details: waffles RED VELVET style, an egg sandwich with SUN DRIED TOMATO PESTO, and the flakiest, buttery-est crust on a PUMPKIN quiche.  Yum.  Go to Sweet Revenue for a beer and cupcake, but come back for the breakfast. Sweet Revenge 62 Carmine Street New York, NY 10014 Phone (212) 242-2240 http://www.sweetrevengenyc.com/

Escarole, Sunchoke, Marcona Almond Salad

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One of my favorite Fall salads is the Escarole Salad served at Otto in New York City.  I used to live walking distance from Otto, which meant lots of delivery.  But now that I live farther away–and out of their delivery range–I decided to try to recreate this salad.  Almost all of the ingredients were obvious: escarole, marcona almonds, and sunchokes.  However I was clueless (and remain so) about what kind of cheese they sprinkle throughout and what the dressing is composed of.  So here I have made my best attempt to recreate this delicious salad, from ingredients I had on hand. First a note about sunchokes, or Jerusalem artichokes.  Funny enough, they are neither artichokes or grown in Jerusalem.  Their outside is knobby and potato-skin like.  While the inside flesh is firm and similar to a potato/jicama consistency.  They can take some funny shapes.  For the salad they are peeled, resulting in oval knobs.  Once I peel them, I always add them to a lemon water bath (2 tablespoons of lemon juice + 1 …

Keste Pizza

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Not all pizza is created equal.  Yes, I am of the belief that even bad pizza is good pizza.  But excellent pizza is another story all together.  New York is riddled with excellent pizza: Lombardi’s, Grimaldi’s, Pepe’s (Yonkers counts!), John’s, Joe’s, Artichoke, the list goes on and on.  The latest pizza joint I’ve been hearing about is Keste, located on Bleecker Street (interestingly right across the street from John’s.) Keste is not brand new, but it was brand new to me.  My friend Marcy and I decided to check it out the other night, and while we walked towards it, I saw a familiar Manhattan sight.  A line of people standing outside.  Two things immediately jumped into my head: 1) Great… we have to wait for a table.  2) This place must be really good. Once seated, we were not disappointed.  The staff was wonderful–all Italian young men that move the seatings along, but have the just-right amount of charm that’s all over Italy.  We started with a few glasses of vino and a wonderfully …

The Standard’s Haricots Verts with Cinnamon Yogurt Dressing and Crispy Shallots

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Wow.  What an incredible combination.  On a recent trip to The Standard Grill at The Standard in NYC, my friend Marcy and I shared this dish and were both instantly in love.  The Standard Grill serves dozens of delicious dishes–many of which are perfectly light and fresh for Summer.  The beans were bright green and crisp and the dressing was the exact right of savory and sweet.  To top it off, the simple salad is topped with perfectly crispy cinnamon shallots.  I’ll be trying to recreate this myself for sure. The Standard Grill New York, NY

ABC Kitchen, love x 2

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For those who live in NYC, you know ABC Home.  The only way I can describe it is to call it “decor porn.”  It’s a resource for designers everywhere, but it’s open to the public too.  Once I enter those lovely, big, wood doors, I’m sucked in for an hour or more.  In addition to home decor, ABC Home is so large, it hosts several restaurants.  The latest comes from Jean-Georges.  I’ve now read 2 glowing reviews of it–one by Adam Platt in New York Magazine and now Sam Sifton’s piece in the New York Times.  Menu stand-outs for me include: peekytoe crab toasts shaved fluke, olive oil, black pepper, and blood orange baked endive with flying pig farm ham and gruyere ricotta black pepper cavatelli with guanciale, ramps, fava beans, peas and pecorino (pictured below) Consider ABC Kitchen officially on my MUST dining list for the Summer.  If only I could get a reservation… ABC Kitchen New York Times on ABC Kitchen New York Magazine on ABC Kitchen

Garlic Fries

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About the only thing I like about the Yankees: The GARLIC FRIES!  Dripping with hot oil mixed with TONS of chopped garlic, parsley, and salt, these were amazing.  Wow.  A beautiful day in New York, hot garlic fries, a cold beer… life doesn’t get much better. Yankee Stadium GARLIC FRIES concession stand, near field section 108/109

100 Layer Lasagna

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I love you, lasagna.  You contain all of my favorite food groups: Fresh pasta Cheese Sauce (red and white) Ground meat (the more complex the mix, the better) Normally, I would be salivating at any regular lasagna, as I view lasagna the same way as pizza (that any pizza is good… even if you bought it at, say, 7-11.)  Leave it to the master… my favorite Italian chef, Mario Batali, to create the 100 layer lasagna.  Yes, 100. The pasta layers are said to be so thin, they’re translucent.  This thing of beauty is now available at the delicious Del Posto.  You can buy it a la carte for $30 or enjoy it on a tasting menu.  Fortunate for me (and Nick!), we received a gift card to Del Posto from the extremely generous duo, Pete and Karen Gerome, to celebrate our engagement.  That means that this glorious beauty will be mine… all mine… I love you, 100 layer lasagna.  Let’s make lasagna babies together.