Tag Archives: restaurant food

A Few Of My Favorite Things

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My birthday was yesterday and Adam and I were both off Saturday and Sunday which meant I got to celebrate a birthday weekend! We tried to do/eat all of my favorite things which meant we spent a ton of time walking around the city and ate a metric-ton of sugar and caffeine. It was perfect!

We did almost all of my favorite things, including – a birthday morning run, time with Adam and Webster, a long city walk, a bridge walk, drinks at Evil Twin, and watching The Office (I only missed walking on a beach and having a drink in the ocean).

And we ate almost all of my favorie things, including – coffee, vodka, Diet Coke, Roast sandwiches, cheeseburgers, ice cream, sprinkles, halo halo, and brigadero (I only missed nachos and roasted green beans)!

Highlights included…

In addition to my free birthday Starbucks I had my two current favorite city coffees – a quad iced latte from Kodawari.

And a freddo cappuccino from The Grand.

Plus a homemade dalgona iced latte!

Homemade rose lemonade spritzers with vodka.

I bought all of the birthday-flavored frozen things.

Plus ice cream for Webster!

Brigadero Bakery. Their summer special vanilla was tie-dyed and my favorite thing I ate all weekend.

Roast take-out, fries and a roast beef sandwich.

A trip to Queens Night Market. I had stir-fried radish cakes.

And halo halo.

Brunch at Nowon. Milky Way cocktail – mezcal, cold brew, Cadamaro, and rum-condensed milk.

My favorite cheeseburger – double smashed patties, American cheese, kimchi mayo, bread and butter pickles. Plus ridiculously amazing honey butter tots.

Walking On Sunshine

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Adam and I randomly had one of the Best! Weekends! Ever! (TM) this past weekend. We lucked out with a good chunk of time to spend together and nice weather. Friday night we took a long walk in our neighborhood and went to a fancy yet lackluster dinner near our apartment. Saturday we drove into Brooklyn for a bridge walk and took long walks around Williamsburg + SoHo + Thompkin’s Square Park. Sunday we took the LIRR into the city and took long walks around Koreatown + Midtown + Central Park. You’ll notice a theme there! Food highlights included…

Fantastic mochi doughnuts and black sesame iced coffee at Bear Donut.

Cinnamon brown sugar cold brew at Now or Never.

We went to a different Felix Roasting Co location each day! For an espresso tonic and a smoked s’mores latte.

We scored new flavors in two of our favorite drinks.

Best beverages of the weekend were this combo from Blue Bottle – Nola Cola (New Orleans-style coffee with vanilla and sparkling water) and a yuzu lemon fizz.

Hanoi House has a dessert window pop-up this summer and it is my new favorite place. I got a Bright Eyes Sundae – vanilla soft-serve, hot fudge, egg custard, chocolate sesame crunch, and Vietnamese coffee over crushed ice.

Egyptian food at Zooba. We loved the tamarind chicken rice bowl.

Plus hawawshi and falafel with hibiscus tahini.

Lebanese food at Au Za’atar. We knuafe plus some of the best lamb we’ve ever tasted (no photo due to lighting but it was a truly gigantic serving and we’ll be happily eating leftovers all week!).

Sushi at Maki Kosaka. We ordered practically the whole menu; both of our favorites were the bluefin toro preparations.

Lattes, The Tyger, and Bambina Blue, Oh My

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Highlights from an exceptionally yummy weekend…

We made dalgona iced lattes with chocolate milk. This is my favorite coffee texture.

Iced cinnamon roll from Mel The Bakery, aka the best cinnamon roll we’ve ever eaten. We regretted not buying more things and want to go back immediately.

Tres Leches x3 doughnut ice cream sandwich (tres leches ice cream sandwiched in a tres leches cake doughnut and dipped in tres leches chocolate coating!) from Doughnut Plant.

Hazelnut crunch gelato at Bambina Blue. We thought we weren’t big gelato fans but this spot has changed our tune.

Topo Chico has officially 100% sold me on alcoholic seltzers. These cans are delicious.

We had a wonderfully good lunch at The Tyger.

I had a Tyger Strype Slushee – Espolòn tequila, Shoumei white tea, peach, lemon, and smoke layered with Espolòn tequila, mango, lemon, honey, and cardamon.

Also a non-alcoholic Green Woods Laugh – mint, pandan, cucumber, and lemon – with Tito’s.

We shared hamachi crudo with Vietnamese salsa verde, coconut, microgreens, and cherry tomato.

Chicken satay with the most interesting/layered peanut sauce I’ve ever tasted.

Stir-fried water spinach with chili, garlic, and shrimp paste.

And Pad See Ew with Chinese broccoli and tofu. The tofu was a salt and pepper crusted silken tofu and it was fantastic.

Plus a Thai coffee tart with a bruleed top for dessert.

Dinner salads. Local butter lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette, mint, peas, lamb sausage, and raw milk aged cheddar. I see why the lamb + mint + pea pairing is a classic.

Lunch

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It was a wonderful weekend to kick off the arrival of warmer weather! Saturday Adam and I drove out to Montauk for some beach walking and lobster rolls. And Sunday we checked out Untermeyer Park and Gardens up in Yonkers.

Weekend highlights include…

A sparkling citrus matcha.

A boozy, frozen, coke coffee (coke ice cubes, amaretto, and espresso).

Espresso (plus chocolate milk) from King’s Coast. <– roasty, delicious, and easily the best coffee we’ve had all year

Vietnamese iced latte from Left Hand.

Jelly croissant from Montauk Bake Shoppe.

Lunch at Lunch Lobster Roll. I had a spicy bloody mary.

And a lobster salad roll.

Loads of take-out sushi.

Homemade, extra-chocolate-y brownies. A halved take on the Bakers square recipe with cocoa powder and espresso powder.

Whole Food’s pineapple pie cookie. This was as tasty as it was cute!

New best snack combo – chicken and waffle chicken chips with pimento cheese.

Candy Chaos

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I worked five days through the last weekend, which is just a normal workweek, but something about the Thursday-Monday schedule is exhausting! Hence the late post. Also all the take-out this week in lieu of cooking!

Adam and I both had the weekend nights off and we went on some great dinner dates! And did some wonderful exploring around Bushwick, aka the best street art neighborhood in New York.

Other highlights from the week included…

Wycoff Star quad iced latte, best coffee of the month.

About Time Coffee‘s Summer Breeze – cold brew with tangerine and cola.

Still very into these Barebell protein bars, the vegan ones in particular are delicious and filling.

New favorite, old favorite – Pazzaz apples are crunchy and juicy / the potato chip peanut butter cups are the best candy of all time and I eat at least one a week.

These new cola Sour Patch Kids are delicious too.

A Spring moment – lavender vodka in homemade rose lemonade.

Caffe Panna affogato special – Candy Chaos; candy-studded ice cream, chocolate ice cream, graham crunch, mini Reese’s cups, Rolos, panna, caramel, and espresso.

Dinner at Faro. I had vodka in a great housemade citrus soda with lime, lemon, and orgeat.

Roasted beets with almonds, ricotta, strawberry and vinaigrette / sourdough sesame focaccia.

Adam had pasta with rabbit (yuck) and we shared bucatini with confit chicken, basil, pecorino, and chili flakes and mafalde with braised short rib and chili pangrattato.

We had the “chocolate” for dessert – hazelnuts, chocolate cremeux, olive oil cake, dulce de leche, and cocoa crumble.

We had a wonderful dinner at Piggyback but it was too dark for photographs. The hands-down best dish was the deconstructed pho – fried rolled noodles, choy sum, soy marinated beef, and a concentrated pho broth sauce. We also had this tuna tartare with yuzu soy vinaigrette, Asian pear, and shisho.

A homemade meal! Hedgehog baked tofu with sauce and sautéed bok choy and celery.

Damn The Man, Save The Empire

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It was an absolutely fantastic weekend! We ate tons of good things, had a bunch of time together, and saw some gorgeous signs of spring all around the city. Highlights included… A long, gorgeous walk from Dumbo, across the bridge, around the Seaport, and up through Midtown.

Iced cortado from Interlude.

Brigadero iced latte from Cafe Patoro.

Vietnamese iced coffee from Lucy’s.

Iced matcha latte made at home.

Not surprised that I am into alcoholic seltzers now. My favorite so far have been from Trip and Topo Chico.

We made extra-chocolately brownies and rewatched Empire Records to celebrate Rex Manning Day 2022!

Affogato special from Caffe Panna – caramel and pistachio.

My leftover sesame noodles were even better stir-fried with extra eggs plus green beans and chili crisp.

We had lunch at Empire Diner and it was hands-down the best meal of this year so far.

I had a spicy Bloody Mary with everything bagel seasoning.

And a great cocktail with mezcal and fresh ginger.

Tuna tartar with avocado, ginger cilantro oil, white soy, frizzled shallots, and housemade chips.

I had the pastrami sandwich with melted swiss and horseradish coleslaw on marble rye. It came with the best mustard and the best herb fries I’ve ever tasted.

Yes, Yes, Yes

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It was a very tasty week! Adam and I had a weekday off and a few evenings together (woo-hoo!) and we made the most of them. Some of the best highlights included…

Fun things in cans. Sparkling blackberry hibiscus tea. <– this was incredibly pleasant

Tepache.

Tiramisu latte from Kore.

Treats from 10,000 Coffee. A croissant with chocolate ganache and banana.

And an Einspänner and an espresso cream latte (we added espresso to the second and were in love with both).

The least exciting but best coffee of the week was an iced latte from Kodawari.

Fresh mango! With plain skyr with honey, chia, and granola.

We spent an afternoon walking around Chinatown and buying basically everything that sounded good! Including a black sugar tea with strawberry boba.

And a fantastic bun with pineapple jelly and salted egg yolk from Kamboat Bakery.

Lunch at Deluxe Green Bo. I got soup with seaweed and egg custard.

And rice cakes with veggies.

Great chicken salad melts with roasted baby cauliflower and Japanese potato chips.

Even better roast beef melts with roasted brussel sprouts and green beans.

Yes, yes, yes to dinner at NoNoNo.

We ordered a bunch of things and our favorites were – assorted charred mushrooms.

Chawanmusi, steamed egg custard with shrimp, snow crab, and salmon roe.

Black sesame panna cotta with salted whipped cream / raindrop pudding with soy bean powder and kuromitsu sauce.

Best meal of the week/month/year was Taiwanese from 886. These fried fish cakes were a spicy, delicious standout.

Crispy silken tofu with shredded radish.

Black pepper beef.

Pea shoots.

Sesame noodles.

Oreos And Mung Beans

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I worked six of the last seven days so we’ve eaten a lot of take-out chicken nuggets but also managed to go on a few nice dates! Highlights from the past week include…

Mint pour-over with chocolate sweetened condensed milk.

This week’s probiotic beverages – tamarind citrus tepache / hibiscus rhubarb kefir.

Sparkling calamansi matchas. I’m not sure why that photo is so swampy, it was lovely in real life.

I am still very into these Kishu mandarins. I used to love Cara Cara oranges but I tried one recently and it paled in comparision.

Newly into these Crunchsters sprouted mung beans which are perfectly savory and crunchy.

And no one is surprised that I am excited about these limited edition confetti cake Oreos.

They are sprinkled!

Also impressed with this new Noosa chocolate gelato.

Drinks and snacks at The Linwood. I had a cocktail with tequila, sage, honey, lime, blood orange, and grapefruit soda.

Plus housemade chips with onion ranch dip.

Caribbean-inspired food at Coastal. My jerk chicken rice bowl was great.

But we were there for the drinks! Like a painkiller made with Soggy Dollar Bar rum (aka rum from the place that invented painkillers).

I also had a lovely drink with vodka, butterfly pea flower, chamomile, guava, pineapple, lemon, and soda.

Homemade chilaquiles with Trader Joe’s guajillo salsa, tortilla chips, shredded chicken, sweet onion, and bell peppers. Topped with sharp cheddar, sour cream, hot sauce, and a fried egg.

We made the best salads. Local lettuce with dijon balsamic dressing / stir-fried/charred snap peas / crunchy mung beans / cheddar / bbq chicken – shredded chicken breast and thighs from the crockpot tossed with homemade bbq sauce and roasted in the oven.

Vegan buffalo chick’n sliders with roasted green beans. The sandwiches were good but the green beans were great.