A warm fall salad. Shredded red cabbage marinated overnight in Trader Joe’s apple vinaigrette / roasted honeynut squash / super-firm tofu roasted with salt, gochugaru, garlic powder, and onion powder / Sweet Twist apple / cheddar / crunchy yellow peas. Plus leftover bread from Sonder.
We were big fans of these Mila chicken soup dumplings. Served with sauteed cabbage (a mix of red cabbage and sugarcone cabbage with green onions, garlic, ginger, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and oyster sauce) and topped with chili crisp and crunchy onions and garlic.
Crunchy chicken salad. Chopped baked chicken, celery, deseeded cucumber, green onion, peanuts, sesame seeds, minced garlic, white sugar, Sichuan peppercorn, and chili crisp. Plus red yams that I roasted and then sauteed with maple syrup, white miso, Sriracha, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
P.S. I posted a day early because we are running errands and doing an easy dinner in our neighborhood tonight, hopefully including a pumpkin beer and an apple pie margarita!
We loved the Hash-ish sandwich – fried egg, house corned beef, red onion, crispy latke, and spicy mustard on a sesame milk bun.
Lucky Catskills. Coconut cold brew with black sesame cold foam.
Little Rye Bakehouse. We got an assortment of goodies would definitely come here again.
Blue Duck Brewing Company. We had dinner that was good but not great and drinks that were great. I would definitely go back here for drinks. This round was a pumpkin espresso martini and a Miss Lippy – white rum, Campari, lime, and passion fruit syrup.
Moonburger. What a fun spot! And my #9 cheeseburger was delicious. I loved the fries too but would not get them spicy again.
Sonder. My terrible photos do this meal no justice, this salad was the prettiest thing I’ve ever eaten. Cabbage and bitter greens with Green Goddess dressing, apple, and miso candied pecans.
House pickles / pickled eggs with aioli, crispy shallots, and evoo / bread with pumpkin butter, browned honey butter, and apple butter.
My all time favorite, number one burger pick in New York. With cornichons, special sauce, and American cheese. It is so charred and smoky!
We shared a terrible bread pudding and a fantasmic affogato (with cacoa nibs!).
Sorry, Charlie. This was my favorite stop of the weekend! Great service, great drinks, great pizza. They were doing fun Halloween specials including the Ecto Cooler shot – tequila, Midori, Suze, and orange bitters.
The clarified Painkiller was one of the best Painkillers I’ve ever had.
And their pizza had the best crust we’ve had in a while. We got a Caps and Stems – mozzarella, roasted mushrooms, sherried onions, garlic parmesan sauce, parmesan, and chives. We will definitely be going back here on all subsequent Kingston trips.
Our fabulous weekend included time in Long Island City, an in-season trip to Sleepy Hollow, some great walks, and tons of (delicious!) fancy treats. Highlights…
Small Batch‘s caramelized pumpkin was also quite good. We tried their brown butter sage latte too but I did not like it.
Za’atar flagel with egg, cheddar, and turkey from Horseman Bagels.
Inspired by a fantastic treat from Kora, we made cheesy sweet buns. Potato roll baked with butter and Trader Joe’s vanilla sugar and topped with shredded Edam.
Spicy crab inari. I don’t get tofu skin often enough and I was excited for this (grocery!) roll.
Treats from Arellano Pandelsal. Ube ensaymada and a cinnamon roll with calamansi glaze!
Spot Dessert Bar‘s Cookie Camp – marshmallow cookie, pretzels, cookie crumbs, chocolate sauce, and condensed milk ice cream. Swoon. We also quite enjoyed a green tea with lychee jelly.
Stew Leonard‘s plain Greek frozen yogurt (great!) with tons of seasonal sprinkles.
I loved the topping options at Ilios – I got the plain Greek (even better!) with sprinkles, Kinder sauce, and cinnamon roll!
A black bean rice bowl from Tony’s with seasonal roasted squash (plus I added roasted baby zucchini from home!).
A lunch plate a Blue Hill at Stone Farms. The property was stunningly gorgeous! We appreciated how fresh and technically perfect the food was but weren’t necessarily over the moon about it. (We would still try the fancy dinner(s) though!)
We were over the moon for the honey roobios canned tea we had with lunch. It tasted like the holidays.
Pig Beach BBQ. This burger was solid, definitely would be number 6 on my New York favorite’s list! It was so smoky! We also liked the potato salad, vinegary slaw, and roasted turkey.
We had a great dinner at Soothr. My fun take on a Long Island came with a delicious mint jelly.
My favorite dish was the Khao Soi tofu aka the best egg tofu I’ve ever eaten.
And we shared Pad Si Iw with beef.
And we also had rice rolls that I wasn’t a fan of (but Adam enjoyed!).
A Pumpkin Month yogurt bowl. Pumpkin Noosa with maple almond butter granola and a side of blueberries.
A Pumpkin Month pumpkin spice latte ice cream sundae. Adirondack pumpkin pie ice cream and Ben & Jerry’s Honey Graham Latte ice cream with Trader Joe’s chocolate shell and granola butter.
A Pumpkin Month snack mix! Trader Joe’s maple kettle corn with candy corn and peanuts. Sooo good.
You know what time it was for dinners — Sandwich Week! Meatloaf. Duck Island whole-wheat sourdough with sauce (white miso, Dijon mustard, and Kewpie), leftover turkey meatloaf, sharp cheddar, and fried onion and garlic. Plus roasted green beans.
Chicken salad toasts. Sourdough baked with sharp cheddar and chicken salad (shredded chicken breast, plain Greek yogurt, Duke’s yellow mustard, Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy jalapeños, shredded edam, and fried onion and garlic). Plus roasted baby broccoli.
Smashed tuna melts. Potato buns with sharp cheddar and tuna salad (canned tuna and smoked trout, plain Greek yogurt, Kewpie, Dijon mustard, jalapeño brine, and chopped pickles and capers) smashed in a skillet with butter and evoo. Plus roasted broccoli and delicata and honeynut squash with a honey mustard sauce (horseradish, Sichuan pepper, honey, yellow mustard, plain Greek yogurt, and Duke’s).
My favorite of the week – tofu sandwiches. A potato bun with Kewpie and yellow and Dijon mustards, pickled red onion, sharp cheddar, fried onion and garlic, and tofu (super-firm thin sliced, marinated in gochujang, pickle brine, jalapeño brine, oyster sauce, onion powder, and garlic powder, and baked). Plus coleslaw (shredded cabbage, rice vinegar, lemon juice, plain Greek yogurt, Duke’s, Dijon mustard, sugar, and dried dill and mustard).
Seed and Mill‘s sesame sundae is Adam’s favorite dessert in the city. We also got a square of pb&j halvah that was amazing.
Hawaiian food from Aloha Alley. We shared their Loco Moco plate (beef patties with beef bone broth mushroom gravy, eggs, rice, and macaroni salad) and the ahi poke (tuna with scallions, seaweed salad, sweet onion, soy garlic shoyu, and crushed macadamia. Plus furikake rice).
Hots Pizza was adorable and had the nicest workers. We swooned over this pickle slice and want to go back to try their other stuff ASAP.
Big Tings in Chelsea Market served us an great jerk chicken sandwich and iced tea with sorrel.
We were totally smitten with the sandwiches from 20 Blocks, every ingredient is clearly chosen with so much care. We shared a Turkey Town (house turkey, fried green tomato, baby romaine, and Cajun mayo on honey whole-wheat) and a Corn Star (charred corn, cowboy candy, and havarti on toasted milk bread).
Dinner at the always excellent Her Name is Han. We got a Mint Garden (green tea infused soju with fresh mint, basil, and perilla leaves) and a Hallabong Spritz (basically an aperol spritz with Jeju citrus).
We shared a bunch of things and are already excited for our appetizers. Korean fried chicken (which comes with a great sauce and wonderful radish kimchi).
Rice cakes with kabocha squash, shishito peppers, and a yuzu gochujang sauce / kimchi cheese pancake topped with a poached egg.
Gochujang grilled chicken thighs (the onion slaw on the side was my favorite bite of the evening). We also had minced beef bulgogi that I forgot to photograph.
P.S. Our actual favorite item of the weekend was a 100/10 cafecito from Titi’s Empanadas on the Lower East Side.
Little Cupcake Bakeshop. Princess cake and a caramel peanut butter bar. They are probably my 3rd favorite cake shop in all of NY.
Gertie’s new bagel shop concept knocked our socks off. We shared a bagel with scallion cream cheese, whitefish salad, and pickled peppers and latkes with apple butter and sour cream.
Tuck Shop‘s tuna melt is my new favorite. I was also head over heels for their honey mustard mayo (2nd sauce of all time; nearly tied with the salsa I had in Taos, NM).
Authentic Thai takeout. Pad see ew with mock duck and tom kha gai fried rice.
Curry beans. Great Northerm beans and roasted garlic sauteed with green onion, ginger, coconut milk, lime juice, red curry, soy sauce, and Sriracha. Served on a mix of brown rice and roasted riced cauliflower.
A very loose take on joomukbap. Leftover rice made into balls with sauteed kimchi, sesame seeds, shredded cheddar, canned tuna, roasted garlic, skyr, and Kewpie and coated in roasted seaweed and furikake. Plus roasted eggplant (a local baby eggplant variety!) sauteed with tahini, gochujang, sesame oil, and honey.
A loose take on callaloo. Frozen spinach cooked with yellow hot pepper, white onion, garlic, urfa chili, curry powder, coconut milk, and crab meat. I ate my bowl with a side of Vigil’s butter and mesquite beef jerky.
Brothy beans. Sauteed leak, green onion, and baby bok choy with ginger, gochugaru, butter, rice vinegar, chicken broth, and pinto beans. Served with buttered toasted sourdough bread (from Cafe d’Avignon, delicious).
More fun drinks. All good/would buy agains. Pineapple yuzu kombucha / pandan coconut soda / banana water (this was our favorite!).
A summer watermelon date. It was kind of disappointing, but fun to eat in the kitchen as a whole family.
This black sesame bar was nice; not roasty enough for me but also not too sweet.
Guac Shop take-out. They crammed so much food into this food! My go-to order – a rice bowl with tofu, sweet potato, roasted cabbage, corn, pico, jalapeño mango salsa, cheese, and cilantro aioli. Plus chips with guac.
Hetty McKinnon‘s hoisin garlic noodles for the New York Times (recipe). As I write this post I am realizing that I completely left out the garlic — but they were still great! Paired with roasted sprouted tofu and snap peas sauteed with garlic, sunflower seeds, and parmesan.
Spicy maple miso chicken with a maple miso tahini salad. The best meal of the week! Baked chicken thighs sauteed with maple syrup, white miso, rice wine, soy sauce, and gochujang. Plus roasted broccoli, raw fennel, and green onions tossed with maple, miso, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, and tahini.
This was one of my best birthdays in recent memory! We spent a long weekend in Hudson, filled with an excessive amount of handholding, pastries, and cocktails! Some highlights of our favorites …
Hudson Roastery butter pean iced cortado (with an extra shot, this is the best ratio for us here).
Treats at Kitty’s. This cruller was actually only ok, but I had a puffed rice krispy treat with tons of marshmallows.
Treats from Mel the Bakery, all 10/10. Jalapeno cheddar pretzel croissant / blueberry jam and corn cookie sandwich / almond chocolate croissant.
Pez Husker Du – white and Oaxacan rums, Flor de Azul, blue corn, and lime. The incredibly nice bartender gave us a taste of the house-made blue corn syrup and it was amazing.
Hereafter Marigold Weather including gin, lemon verbena tea, meyer lemon, orgeat, and honey.
Breakfast at Cafe Mutton. This restaurant is so special. We shared a perfect meal. Delicious house-made celery soda.
Zucchini, corn, and onion omelet with goat gouda. With toast buttered to near insanity. I asked for hot sauce and they brought out a house-made sungold tomato situation that was one of the best sauces we’ve ever tasted.
Lettuces salad with sungolds, cucumber, corn, scallions, herb dressing, pecorino, and breadcrumbs.
Milk-soaked almond cake with honey and blueberries.
Breakfast at Gracie’s Luncheonette. Chicken biscuit with honey butter and hot sauce and a great hashbrown. This was some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten.
Dinner at Gracie’s Luncheonette (yes, we went twice, it’s that good!). I got the white bbq half chicken – broiled half chicken with Alabama white BBQ (also some of the best chicken I’ve ever eaten; we loved the sauce and rub too), slaw, a biscuit (excellent), and mac and cheese (weak; meanwhile Adam’s fries were swoonworthy). Sadly, we enjoyed neither our iced coffee nor our iced coffee cocktail.
Dinner at Lil Deb’s Oasis. Their upcoming closure is giant loss. I’m showing my three favorite things but we ordered a lot and it was all great. Charred snap peas with tahini sauce / tomatoes and cucumbers with fennel, perilla, roasted peach jam, and sesame chili crisp. <– these were both stunningly good
Burmese crispy tofu lettuce wraps with spicy ginger mustard.
Dessert was my favorite course. We had flan, a surprisingly good dessert cocktail (with vodka, brown butter, dates, orgeat, and nutmeg), and the best – boozy – affogato I’ve ever had (with sweet cream ice cream, grilled pineapple, and coffee caramel tequila). I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the pineapple but it actually made the dish.
