A chewy yogurt bowl. Plain skyr with blueberries, strawberry gummies, and red bean millet jelly.
Pizzaria G’s.
Green papaya salad-style roasted cabbage salad. Roasted cabbage, green onion, tomato, crispy baked shredded super-firm tofu, beef jerky, peanuts, and crispy garlic and onion dressed with lime juice, fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and serrano pepper.
I found lemon herb butter Cape Cod kettle chips so obviously I planned a meal around them (crab roll nachos). My crab mixture was claw meat with lemon juice, Kewpie, melted butter, white pepper, smoked paprika, green onion, and celery. Baked with sharp cheddar.
Lemon pepper baked tuna cakes. Canned tuna with lemon juice and zest, pepper, white pepper, leftover chips, Kewpie, and egg. Plus roasted shredded brussels sprouts with salt, pepper, gochugaru, and lemon juice.
Obviously, we ate summer bbq themed nachos for the 4th of July. Red, white, and blue tortilla chips baked with sharp cheddar, vegetarian baked beans, and leftover esquites. Plus homemade cole slaw (roasted sugarcone cabbage with salt, sugar, Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning, lemon juice, and sour cream).
We had one of our best weekends in recent memory, including tons of dog cuddles, a picnic on the boardwalk in Long Beach, a few stops in Ridgewood, and a day at Industry City. Also some truly excellent food! My absolute favorites were…
A lightly toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese and jelly at Apollo Bagels.
Hellbender‘s soft scrambled egg tostada with black beans, cheddar, salsa macha, and sesame.
Also from that same (fabulous) brunch – peanut butter jello with chocolate whipped cream!
Dolly’s black cherry pie. Excluding the key lime category, this was the best pie I’ve ever eaten.
Lil Al’s Burgers. It didn’t break my top five but this was a very solid cheeseburger. Plus very good fries.
I didn’t take a photo of Hometown BBQ‘s brisket sandwich with pickles, white onion, and sticky sauce on a crispy sesame bun that was possibly the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. But Apollo sent us home with extra bagels and I did take leftover brisket meat and reheat it with scrambled eggs and sharp cheddar and eat it on an everything bagel with Kewpie and yellow mustard.
It was a perfect New York summer weekend! Including great food (several of my top favorites and lots of sweet treats!), a couple of long walks, brunch on the water in Roslyn, a trip to Rockaway Beach, and a visit to the mall! The best things I ate were…
Rockaway Beach Bakery. Guava cheese danish. We also had a yummy slice of croissant bread. Their new location is great.
From Lucie. They make my favorite cake in the city. This was a (super duper moist) vanilla cake with Earl Gray frosting and blackberry jam.
Culture Espresso makes our 2nd favorite chocolate chip cookie in the city. This was the corn cookie and we also enjoyed a frozen maple coffee.
Pavlo Mochi. My favorite was the banana milk jam with a dulce de leche center.
Connolly’s Bar pina colada is my current favorite frozen cocktail.
I didn’t actually love my brunch burger at Naks but their wonderful vinegar fries were fantastic dipped in egg and gravy.
My cocktail was also a win; I got the Zesto – a milk punch with coconut, soursop, and rum (and that’s a pandan coconut rum jello shot!).
Roberta’s house-made bread + stracciatella + sugar snap peas with pea shoots and green garlic.
Best meal of the weekend = lunch at Rippers. Cheeseburgers and seasoned fries. This is Adam’s favorite burger.
Their cocktails were magical too! Lychee soju martini and a frozen sangria (we ate spoons of sangria with soft-serve and swooned).
P.S. No photos but I had a kale salad with salmon at Daily Provisions that knocked my socks off.
King’s Coast coconut iced latte with coconut cold foam. 100/10.
See also – Beanmonger‘s strawberry white chocolate iced latte. A little too sweet for me.
Paris Baguette Dubai chewy cookie. Nowhere near as good as Bear Donut but still delicious (obviously).
Veggie cheese fries. Baked fries tossed with furikake, garlic powder, and onion powder / poblano pepper, corn, green onion, and honey goat cheese / six-minute eggs tossed in a skillet with butter, evoo, gochujang, chili crisp, maple syrup, soy sauce, and lime.
Bean salad. Great Northern beans, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, peanuts, sesame seeds, and sharp cheddar tossed with evoo, sesame oil, chili crisp, honey, and rice vinegar.
No post last week because we were on vacation! Adam and I went to New Mexico (my first time there) – Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and a night in the desert in Taos. We had a wonderful time! It was beautiful, the food was outstanding, and we visited our final Meow Wolf.
Things from the week back in real life…
A sugar plum yogurt bowl! The plums were the leftover solids from a plum syrup I made (red and black plums simmered with sugar and water — ok in iced coffee, better in seltzer) plus plain skyr and granola.
Veggie snacks. Fun to try but not for me (the sweet potato was too chewy and the okra was too crunchy); I brought them to work and at least one person liked each thing.
The best vegan jerky.
Tofu veggie bowls. This was the best meal of the week. Hedgehog-cut baked super firm tofu and roasted brussels sprouts topped with chopped white mushrooms sauteed with evoo, butter, lemon juice, maple syrup, dark soy sauce, miso paste, Dijon, garlic, gochugaru, and sesame seeds.
Chickens salad. Shredded baked chicken, six-minute eggs, Wilde chicken chips, and sauteed hen of the woods mushrooms tossed with plain skyr, Duke’s mayo, pickle brine, chopped pickles, salt, Sichuan pepper, white pepper, smoked paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. Plus succotash we did not suffer for – frozen mixed veggies (carrots, peas, corn, green beans, and baby lima beans) sauteed with butter and lemon.
Inspired by our chicken salad we also made a chickens migas! Eggs scrambled with shredded chicken, Wilde chicken chips, kettle chips, honey goat cheese, and sauteed tomato, poblano pepper, corn, and green onions. I topped my bowl with tons of Green Cholula (the sweet goat cheese was possibly not the best cheese for this dish!).
Yogurt bowl – plain Greek with honey, blueberries, and two types of kiwi. I started scooping kiwis out of their skin with a grapefruit spoon (rather than trying to clumsily peel them) and now I eat them all the time.
“Mountain city spicy flavor” rice snacks.
We had leftover pandan white chocolate blondie from Chim Chim in our freezer and I blended it into a great milkshake with vanilla ice cream, milk, pandan syrup, and malted milk powder.
Passionfruit smore’s! Effie’s pecan biscuit crackers, oven-roasted Malvi passionfruit marshmallows, and Chocxo dark chocolate passionfruit cups.
Dinners listed in order of how much we liked them. Satay-inspired tofu (just ok-good). Tofu – sauteed extra-firm tofu that was marinated in Jamaican curry powder, red curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice, and coconut milk / lackluster peanut sauce – peanut butter, Sriracha, lime juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and coconut milk / marinated cucumbers – with rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, Milu everything crisp, and sesame seeds / on a packet of Ben’s Original coconut jasmine rice.
Tuna joomukbap (very good). We’ve made this Cafe Maddy recipe before and will definitely make it again. I used leftover brown rice, two cans of tuna, and a poblano pepper instead of a bell pepper. Plus chopped baby broccoli roasted with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Red curry beans (excellent). Great Northern beans sauteed with garlic and ginger and cooked in a curry sauce (coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice, dark soy sauce, and Sriracha). Served on a mix of roasted cauliflower rice and brown rice.
Kimchi migas (best meal of the week!). Sauteed kimchi, green onion, and tomatoes with gochugaru, gochujang, honey, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, plus kimchi flavored kettle chips, eggs, and sharp cheddar.
I stole my title from a great cocktail at Finback. Some highlights from the weekend…
Yogurt bowl with blueberries and granola (sprinkled granola!).
Quad iced latte with guava and white chocolate at Humble Cafe. They have the best syrup options.
We went to a fun little neighborhood food truck festival to try the dirty sodas at Island Fizz. We shared two custom flavors – Diet Coke with strawberry syrup, cherries, and cream and Diet Coke with guava syrup and marshmallow fluff (my favorite).
It is finally popsicle weather! I got these from 99 Ranch. The grape cheese one is one of my favorites; it is delightfully weird.
Pest chicken salad. Chopped chicken breast with pesto, plain skyr, Duke’s mayo, North River crunchy yellow peas, and Wooly soft sheep’s milk cheese with espelette pepper. This was a great mix of creamy and crunchy and creamy and spicy. Served with baby carrots and leftover fries (we got Slider Joe’s take-out last week and it was fantastic).
Cheesy kimchi chicken dip. Plain skyr and Duke’s mayo with chopped chicken breast, extra-sharp cheddar, sauteed green onions, and chopped/caramelized kimchi. Scooped with kimchi flavored Kettle Chips! Plus broccoli roasted with salt, dried green mango powder, and garlic powder.
Doughnut Plant is hit or miss for me but this rosewater glazed doughnut was perfection.
Brunch at Vato. We shared a cinnamon bun and a burnt end, egg, and cheese burrito. The meat wasn’t my favorite but the housemade tortilla was great and their salsas were solid. I need to go back for a concha!
We were impressed with Jax Pizza; Adam liked the Rosso with six-hour tomato sauce and my favorite was the vodka slice.
Handroll dinner at Matsunori. We shared seaweed salad.
And steamed eggs.
My handrolls – spicy salmon (shown) / miso butter cod / toro with caviar / A5 Waygu. I also had a yuzu drop!
Dinner at Chuko was the best meal of the weekend. We shared some fun beverages like this ume soda.
And a Calpico.
Split a shrimp bun.
Fantastic okonomiyaki-style tots.
And kale salad (the best in the city!) with yellow raisins, miso dressing, and crispy sweet potato. They throw some fried kale into the mix and the texture mix here is just wonderful.
They offer all of their broth bases in vegetarian and are also my favorite ramen spot. I went with Kimchi (which comes with cabbage and curly yellow noodles) with pickled mustard greens, a soy egg, and chili crisp.
Eating Chalk 