Salad
I'm a lover of the greens. Romaine, mesculun, watercress, iceberg...all of it. I like lots of stuff in my salads and I especially enjoy one as the centerpiece of a meal.
If you're in the Rockefeller Center area and want to munch on a salad, may I suggest dining at Food Merchants in the concourse level. Home to the "unlimited toppings for $6.39" salad, it's the best way to get tons of vegetables and not pay the hefty prices some salad bars charge. I once had a $15 dollar salad my first week in new york -- and for those who have done the same, Food Merchants is a great place to go and freely order a salad.
My personal favorite combination:
Grilled Chicken
Avacado
Blue Cheese
Carrots
Artichoke hearts
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Red Onions
Cucumber
And Balsamic Vinegrette.
Awh, and this all comes to a total of $6.93 with tax and free bread. So yummy, it's making me hungry just thinking about it.
Mara's Homemade
This really happened...
"Can I bag that up for you and you can take it home?"
Says the waitress after H has finished an entire meal with his friend at this restaurant and has decided to order one dessert. Granted, the restaurant was busy with the usual friday night dinner crowd and all waitors like to turn over tables rather quickly to make more money, but that's just plain rude.
And then his credit card bill was charged $70 instead of the $43 he signed for. That's just plain wrong.
Be warned my children...
Turkish Kitchen
A normal Sunday afternoon jaunt landed me at the Turkish Kitchen on Third Avenue with Ulku, my curley-haired Turkish friend. Just the mention of enjoying food will start her on tales of her homeland's cuisine. But if you're really lucky, you'll be invited to one of her Turkish brunches.
The staff at The Turkish Kitchen know Ulku by name -- that is how much she loves it and how often she goes. They greet her in turkish and sadly watch her leave after a glutinous rendezvous. On the weekends, it features an all-you-can-eat buffet for $17.95 with several types of dips -- varieties of hummus, yogurt dill and seafood -- plus a spread with more bread than any carblover could handle and a variety of meats from the farm prepared in different ways. Can you say STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES? I can't get enough of the tasty little rolls. Be sure to save room for pistachio baklava.
What can be better than good food, than good conversation? Mix a group of people deliriously stuffed, slightly hungover and tired twenty-somethings and nonsense is sure to follow. From ridiculously true stories of spending christmas in dover with one's new zealand boyfriend to another diner's mix-up of words, I was rolling with laughter the whole meal.
While discussing plans for the afternoon, D mentions, "We're going to meet some friends in Shepherd's bush."
Laughter errupts, when we realized he's talking about the area in Central Park called Sheep's Meadow. Awh, anything is funny on a full stomach.
On a recent trip to buy cupcakes for a co-worker's birthday, I made my first visit to Cupcake Cafe on 18th Street -- home to the most beautiful buttercream frosted, flower-adorned cupcakes in Manhattan. And because looks are 50% of taste, they were mighty fine cupcakes. With a choice of chocolate or vanilla with chocolate or vanilla icing, they are almost too pretty to eat. And for those who like to feed their brains, there's a book store attached to the bakery.
But, when I first moved to the city, Magnolia Bakery on Bleeker Street in the West Village was THE cupcake place of choice. The Marc Jacobs clad bakers were a small bonus to the yummy, sugary goodness in multiple flavors like chocolate, red velvet, vanilla, or german chocolate -- all with or without sprinkles.
In my early days as a Condé Nast intern, I often rushed downtown getting boxes of cupcakes -- they don't deliver!!!! -- waiting in line, and making my way back to the office hoping the cupcakes would emerge as immaculately as when they were first iced. Maybe that's why they tasted so good? Of course, the fact that they were "free" didn't hurt either.
But then one rainy day, I took my mother there and she was all but horribly disappointed in the famous bakery as were my 3 sisters. Yes, mom, they're not as tastey as your Pilsbury varieties, but the famous "Sex in the City" experience is worth the trip every time!
Plus, you never know who you'll see while getting a cupcake in NYC. I happened upon Drew Barrymoore on my way to Cupcake Cafe this week. Here's to delicious dessert calories!!!!!!
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/features/14289/index.html
Budget dining
So, as most of you know, I'm on a slight budget now that I've taken a new job with a new smaller salary. (As if that's even possible!!!!) So with this new lifestyle I'll be leading, my entries may occasionally sku to the homemade meals. This is just a forewarning. :)
May the eating commence.
I'm what I would like to call an "Easy Eater." A sometimes adventurous, but never picky carnivore who dabbles in vegetarianism, enjoys appetizers more than desserts, and short walks to the bar.
So, if I'm at a Peruvian restaurant and anticucho (skewered cow's heart) is the popular dish -- I'll try it.
With that said, I am also a repetative eater. I order turkey clubs at Dojo, breakfast burritos at 7A, and grilled salmon at Westville each and every time I frequent the restaurant.
New cuisines and flavors are great, but at a recent dinner, this was put to test.
Azul Bistro, an Argentinean restaurant seated on a hip corner in the lower east side, is THE place to take friends, out-of-towners, parents, lovers, and celebrities. For the meat lover in all of us, this South American restaurant will quench your protein thirst.
Here's how to order:
Start with the Eggplant Milanesitas -- thinly sliced, fried eggplant layered between goat cheese with sliced tomatoes on the side. Then, as a second course, go for the Marinated, Grilled and Sliced Sirloin for 2 (Cortada) on the menu. I tend to order it over and over again quite simply because it's the best. The rosemary, thyme, and brandy marinade creates a flavor you'll obsess over for days after eating it. Plus, it is served with a mesclun salad and french fries. I stick to this because it fills me up and never lets me down.
Others I've dined with have leaned toward the Grilled Mixed Selection for 2 (Parrillada Completa). This assortment includes chicken, lamb chops, skirt steak, chorizo, morcilla, and sweet breads. Sweet breads, as some of you may know, is the brain of an animal -- cow, lamb, horse, etc. -- and it is often considered a delicacy in foreign countries.
I'm sure it is dandy and tastes just like chicken! But, I cannot stomach such delicacies. For some reason, watching the "meat" get passed around and tasted by everyone made my stomach turn. Watching D chew on the seasoned brain bite after bite in an effort to say, "Look, I eat it so you should eat it too!" didn't exactly work. As my momma taught me: peer pressure is no reason to do something you don't want to do.
And so, much to the dismay of my fellow diners, no amount of wine and cajoling could get me to taste cranium. I am sorry K, but I have found the line I cannot cross.
The sweet bread eaters
Because it's summer and because I love beer gardens...
Zum Schneider, a Bavarian Indoor Biergarten on Avenue C, is not only diagonal from my apartment, but it's also one of my favorite watering hole in the east village. Hard pretzels on the table, and buxom beer maids handling up to 8 steins at a time -- what's not to love? But I can't compete with a friend J who can be found sitting inside at a wooden picnic table or outside under a blue and white umbrella with friends at any time or day of the week tackling large steins of caramel goodness. It's that kind of place.
When my sister and her boyfriend came to visit NYC, after shocking them with my small apartment full of "character" and kitchy furnishings. I figured Zum Schneider would be just the place to ease them into East Village living. And so the night unfolded....
