Tag Archives: restaurant food

Pistachio, Passionfruit, Pickles

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Some things from the weekend…

This pistachio butter was perfect in an iced latte.

Also in an ice cream sundae! Jeni’s darkest chocolate with pistachio butter, Heritage Flakes, and Trader Joe’s chocolate shell.

Yogurt bowl – plain Greek with blueberries and tons of fresh passionfruit.

We did not care for this Trader Joes tarragon chicken salad wrap. The flavor was hollow; we split it and neither of us wanted to finish our half.

But I did quite enjoy their packaged southwest salad.

We got take-out from the Burger Spot for the 1st time so we ordered a bunch of things to try — Country Veggie salad – chopped kale, cabbage, avocado, cucumbers, cranberries, red onion, and a homemade veggie patty with cilantro ranch dressing / fries and onion rings (their sauces were all a 10/10!) / chicken parm sandwich – chicken fillet with marinara and mozzarella on ciabatta / and the special chicken burger with pickled jalapenos, pickles, coleslaw, cheddar, and bourbon sauce. We will be back!

We also had a shockingly good meal at Little Beet – herby rice with charred broccoli, smoky maple carrots (some of the best vegetables I’ve ever eaten!), baked tofu, and chimichurri.

Savory oatmeal bowl. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds / frozen broccoli sauteed with gochujang, ginger, fish sauce, and gouda / fried egg / chili crisp.

Blackbird Blueberry

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Highlights from the weekend…

Buzz’d Express Coffee‘s monthly special is a cinnamon roll latte.

Dessert-y yogurt bowl – plain skyr with Trader Joe’s chocolate shell, crunchy peanut butter, cookie dough granola, and tons of blueberries.

We both love those these Whole Food’s sour citrus slice candies.

Dinner at Blackbird. The food was great, the lighting was not. Among other things we had a wonderful salad with medjool dates, almonds, pecarino, and a mustard vinaigrette. And homemade pasta with short-rib ragu!

Sourdough pasta with food-processed roasted bell pepper, green onion, jarred piquante peppers, evoo, and walnuts. Plus cheese. And roasted cauliflower on the side.

Potato hash with poblano peppers, bell peppers, green onion, urfa, and gochugaru. Plus roasted Chinese eggplants with a spicy peanut sauce (peanut butter, gochujang, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, white sugar, and water) and sesame seeds.

Coconut, Banana, And Egg Coffees

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We had a terrific weekend filled with tons of good food, good coffees, and several long walks (including bridge walks – our favorite!)! The five best food stops were…

A&C Super. It took us too long to check out this cute bakery but we hope to head back quickly. We had a banana bread muffin and an amazing pull-apart croissant bread with cardamom sugar. Plus their coconut iced coffee (with toasted coconut infused sweetened condensed milk!) with a shot of espresso.

11:11 Cafe. We loved their banana iced latte. This was milkier than we prefer but the milk was so tasty.

5th Sip. This is a newish Vietnamese coffee spot. We got the Hanoi Egg cold foam.

Brunch at Pig and Khao. Vietnamese iced coffee and a Green Hour – Thai basil gin, pisco, cucumber, lime, mint, aquafaba, and orange bitters.

We shared the Thai basil chicken.

And Khao Soi.

Plus doughnuts with a pandan cream.

Dinner at Bonnie’s. This Cantonese-American spot exceeded my high expectations. We shared and loved a good portion of the menu. Henny Kravitz – Hennessy VS, toasted coconut, Plantation pineapple rum, Copalli white rum, lemon, and sherry.

Sour Cherry Negroni – Ilegal mezcal, sour cherries, and Empirical plum liquor. We also had an unphotographed Ribena Highball – Ilegal mezcal, Ribena blackcurrant, ginger, lemon, and San Pellegrino.

Yauh Ja Gwai Panzanella – heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, stone fruit, pickled mustard greens, and fried cruller.

Dao Gok – Chinese long beans, fermented bean curd garlic butter, and fried cruller.

Naw Mai Fan – buttered crispy sticky rice with snap peas and herbs.

Cheung Fun – seared rolled rice noodles with bean sprouts and chives (we got the vegan option for this but I bet the shrimp based xo sauce is divine). We also had an unphotographed Fuyu Cacio e Pepe Mein -cacio e pepe, fermented bean curd, pecorino, and black and white pepper.

Chow Nai Sundae – malted fried milk, ovaltine hot fudge, vanilla ice cream, and buttered peanuts.

Brinner Winner

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We did breakfasts for dinners this week. Here was everything I ate on theme…

Coffee, obviously. Sweetie Pies on Main makes some of our favorite lattes in Long Island. These specials were crazy – tres leches and tiramisu!

Cereal [milk latte]. Espresso plus skim milk I infused overnight with Cocoa Pebbles.

Orange juice. I wanted to be on-theme but I hate juice so we made cocktails. OJ with vodka and amaretto plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some Target rainbow sherbet seltzer.

Smoothie. Blueberry pancake smoothie. Frozen blueberries blended with cottage cheese, butter extract, maple syrup, vanilla protein powder, malted milk powder, and water.

Blueberry muffins. I think these protein mini muffins are disgusting in a delightful way.

Yogurt bowl, obviously. This was plain Greek with blueberries, blackberries, and cookie dough granola.

Egg and cheese biscuit. Hometown Bakeshop‘s build-your-own breakfast sandwich. We got a cheddar biscuit with two over-medium eggs, cheddar-jack cheese, caramelized onions, and smoked aioli.

Avocado toast. Whole-wheat bread toasted with butter topped with smashed avocado (with lemon, salt, and gochugaru) and cold-smoked sockeye salmon. Plus sauteed purple asparagus.

Cottage cheese bowls. Topped with cucumber salad (sesame seeds, gochugaru, rice vinegar, and sugar) and baked chicken meatballs (panade, hoisin, gochujang, oyster sauce, and white pepper). I ate several meatballs before they could make it to my bowl!

Oatmeal. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds – 10/10, it is perfect out of the microwave – topped with a fried egg, chopped baby broccoli sauteed with lemon and garlic, spicy caramelized peanuts (sugar, salt, white pepper, evoo, gochugaru, and togarashi), and chili crisp.

Bacon, egg, and cheese bagel salad. This was my best idea of the week. Arugula dressed with garlic Dijon dressing and horseradish Sriracha aioli / sharp cheddar / beef bacon / homemade bagel croutons (Bagel Joint sesame gochujang bagel tossed with evoo, salt, white pepper, and gochugaru and baked) / six-minute eggs.

Pierogi, Calzone, Hot Pockets

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This week’s dinner theme has to be my most unhinged — foods in an edible package. I am mentally categorizing “edible packages” as packets, by the way (i.e. no turducken!).

Mochi-wrapped ice cream. This milk tea flavor from Bubbies was fantastic and these are possibly the best ice cream mochi I’ve ever eaten.

Gummy mangos in an edible candy peel. The peelable gummies from Walgreens are top tier. It was a yummy week!

Rice noodle rolls with shrimp. From Trader Joe’s.

Soup dumplings. We went to Nan Xiang to try their chicken soup dumplings and thought they were great.

We also had their mustard greens with tofu skin and edamame which were good.

And their stir-fried rice cakes with shredded beef which were only ok.

And ube bao stuffed with red bean paste (more packets!).

Potstickers. Trader Joe’s chicken and vegetables. Paired with roasted broccoli and a dumpling salsa inspired by Leah Cohen (crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, gochugaru, sugar, Fly by Jing Sichuan chili oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, and green onions).

Tortellini. Whole Foods kale and cheese. We tossed them with orange baby tomatoes, roasted zucchini, baked chicken, sharp cheddar cubes, and a green sauce (fresh baby spinach food-processed with evoo, chili oil, sesame oil, salt, garlic, and walnuts).

Samosas. Trader Joe’s mini vegetable ones. Paired with curry cauliflower (roasted cauliflower sauteed with evoo, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and Jamaican curry powder) with pickled red onions and fried eggs.

P.S. We’re going to Queens for empanadas tonight. Other than the other thousand varieties of things stuffed into pastas, did I miss any??

CarbohyGREAT

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Some yummy things from a perfect weekend…

Dayglow Coffee. Warhol – espresso, cream, citrus, cinnamon, and vanilla. Morning Show – distilled coffee, orange, condensed coconut, and passionfruit. We were delighted with these.

Humble Cafe is our favorite local Long Island coffee spot. Ice latte with pandan syrup and a taro mochi cookie.

Bagel Joint. We got a Thai iced tea egg cream.

And a duck egg everything bagel with ramp cream cheese and tuna bacon.

DSK Brooklyn. Adam had German beers and I had a shockingly good chicken bratwurst (on a pretzel bun with mustard!).

Pasta Night date night. My Daddy Issues cocktail had bourbon, coconut washed Campari, lime, and ginger beer.

We split the salted cod fritters special.

Roasted brussels sprouts in chili crisp.

Pesto pasta – radiatori in basil pesto with pecorino and poached tomatoes.

And the Big Ragu – rigatoni with golden tomato sauce, slow braised beef ragu, and Parmesan cream.

We of course also had to go to their origin restaurant – Ciao Gloria – earlier in the afternoon. Granita (slushie espresso with sweetener and oat milk) and a espresso chocolate chip cookie and a blondie with tahini and jam. Excellent.

Rita’s Pizza. This was my favorite meal of the food-filled weekend! La Rita – orange marmalade reduction, fontina, caramelized onions, thyme, duck prosciutto, Truffleist duck mousse.

Obviously we got The Sundae – maple and vanilla soft serve twist with hot fudge, torched marshmallow fluff, Luxardo cherry, chocolate pearls, and a waffle cup.

Coffee, Cake, Coffee Cake

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We had a lovely weekend, including a trip to the MoMA and a walk across the Williamsburg bridge and up to Washington Square Park. Some favorites…

Maman – Salted tahini honeycomb iced latte. This was delightful.

Hani’s – peanut butter and jelly cake.

Bahn by Lauren – Sesame ball with mung bean filling (9.5/10, almost as good as the one from Lucky King) and pandan coffee cake.

Glace – S’mores sundae. Brown butter vanilla soft-serve with hot fudge, marshmallow fluff, and whipped cream. We added peanut butter drizzle and did not regret it.

Brunch at The Dutch. My (non-epynonymous) Oaxacan Sunset had tequila, mezcal, cassis, lime, and hibiscus grenadine.

Deviled eggs with crab.

We shared the burger which was dry-aged with grilled onions, cheddar, and secret sauce on a sesame bun.

And cornmeal flapjacks with blueberry syrup and salted butter. These had the best crispy edges.

Deux Decades = Twenty Years

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It was a great weekend. We spent some time in Ridgewood and also checked out the fabulous orchid show at the NY Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. Food highlights…

We bought this fancy grape jam in Hudson and I was excited to use to use it.

Like in a pb&j bowl with yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh blueberries, and smooth and chunky peanut butter.

And in an iced coffee (with vanilla cold foam).

The best coffee of the weekend had blueberries in it! I blended cold coffee with frozen blueberries, brown sugar, skin milk, and vanilla protein powder.

I also had a nice latte from Honeymoon Coffee (<– super cute spot). Enjoyed with some flan from a bakery in Ridgewood. We stirred some of the caramel into the latte and that was obviously great.

Evil Twin is our favorite New York brewery and this was one of our best trips to date – so many fun sours!

Cheesy tots. Baked potato tots with roasted cauliflower and tons of sharp cheddar. And Sriracha horseradish aioli, furikake, gochugaru, and sesame seeds.

Cafe Deux. I got their burger which was double Wagyu patties, house aioli, and cheddar with tons of fries. I also stole several bites of Adam’s soft-scrambled eggs and toast with local jam.

Plus we shared a great brownie sundae with their flourless chocolate cake and Cafe Panna vanilla ice cream.

Decades Pizza. The pizza was wonderful but I was drawn in by this drink – Pink Moon Sour = amaretto, contratto bitter, lemon, and marshmallow cream! The drink on the left was cold brew with honey, nutmeg, and soda.

We shared and loved a bunch of things. Our favorite dish of the night was the arancini with hazelnut pesto, Calabrian chili, and pecorino.

Roasted carrots and asparagus with whipped ricotta and pesto oil.

Mushroom pie – blue oyster mushrooms, garlic, cream, mozzarella, and parmigiano.

And a special pie with Calabrian chili and tons of green onions.

And we got fermented banana cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert.

Our leftovers were perfect for Sunday dinner. Plus sauteed asparagus with toasted almonds, garlic, lemon, yellow mustard, and dijon.