The best new find – Woodstock blueberry banana water. This was yummy! And no added sugar.
The best snack – Brownie batter Barebell’s protien bar. One of their best flavors; it was almost oddly filling.
The best dinner – crab rangoon baked quesadillas. The filling was crab meat, green onion, cream cheese, melted butter, sweet chili sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and sharp cheddar. Plus bok choy sauteed with green onion and mushroom. Plus a homemade Sriracha mayo dip.
The best dinner leftovers – Buffalo chicken baked pasta. With whole-wheat bowtie pasta, baked chicken, green onion, garlic powder, onion powder, buffalo sauce, cream cheese, and sharp cheddar. Plus baby carrots.
The relentless rain couldn’t drown out our weekend fun! Thankfully I had already planned indoor activities — lots of snacks, fun shopping for a home improvement project, vintage window-shopping in Greenpoint, and a trip to the Museum of Art and Design for the (excellent!) Haas Brothers Uncanny Valley exhibit.
Edible highlights…
Fun coffee mediums. The egg cream didn’t work in iced coffee (not enough body) but iced Calpico with espresso was a 9/10.
Blue Bottle iced Nola with vanilla and chicory cold foam. 9/10.
Falu House miso brown sugar iced latte with maple cold foam and birch-smoked sea salt. Best coffee of the weekend, 100/10. We loved our bun with cheese too and they also had incredible Swedish candy.
Bibble and Sip guava mochi croissant. We loved the mochi and the croissant but wanted the dish overall to have more flavor/balance. We thought their salt bread was a 9.5/10.
Bite Bao. I had tomato with scrambled eggs and Sichuan spicy diced chicken. Best Chinese food we’ve had in Long Island in awhile.
Kelang. This space was gorgeous. I had a Durian Milk Punch, obviously; durian, clarified coconut cream, spice mix, green tea, pineapple, aged rum, arrack, and velvet falernum.
I also had a kalamansi limeade with Tito’s.
We shared some really great dishes. Charred cabbage with butter, pineapple, chili, peanut, and cashew cream.
Paratha with red lentil dhal, Stracciatella, herbs, and sambal oil.
Crispy taro gnocchi with smoked shiitake, chili, and Shaoxing wine.
Hainanese Chicken. This was the only dish I didn’t love, though the bone broth and chicken rice were both lovely.
P.S. We had a no-photo lunch at Nobu and the miso black cod did live up to the hype (we also had great white fish tiradito)!
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.
Adam and I had the whole weekend together and it was just the best! We had two days of Manhattan fun (East Village and the Upper East Side) including great food, a long walk, time loving the trees in Central Park, and a trip the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. The highlights…
Fancy Kook‘s carrot cake iced latte with cream cheese foam, cinnamon, and pecans.
I was disappointed in this egg coffee from Le Phin but we also had the best pandan iced latte I’ve ever had.
Cola and lemonade slush from Slik. Perfect consistency and not too-too sweet.
We quite enjoyed this bowl from Yogurt Club. Super thick strained Greek yogurt with blueberries, Biscoff kataifi sauce, and mochi.
Speaking of mochi and kataifi – Bear Donut‘s new chewy cookies are amazing. We got white chocolate hazelnut.
Before they closed, Bao Haus served my favorite food in New York and their new iteration is even better! We had lamb bao and unphotographed duck bao.
The Birdhaus bao was as fantastic as I remembered.
The new location does large plates like these outstanding noodles with chilis, pickled greens, and burnt ends. The wonderful schmaltzy pea shoots are hiding in the back.
I also had a guava gose with a delightful rim (li hing mui, maybe?).
Cambodian food at Bayon. We shared shrimp, crabmeat, and corn chowder.
Tamarind duck. Perfectly crispy skin!
Sauteed eggplant with beef, fresh basil, garlic, chili peppers, and oyster sauce. The beef was even better than the duck.
And the Spicy Siem Reap Noodles – sauteed wide rice noodles, basil, scallions, eggs, onion, chili, fish sauce, and soybean, with beef, extra spicy.
I tamed the spice with a creamy iced tea.
P.S. The leftover noodles were great reheated in a skillet with kale and an extra egg.
Nachos. Stew Leonard’s salsa verde protein tortilla chips (delicious!) with sharp cheddar, ground turkey, and onion, poblano, and bell pepper sauteed with taco seasoning.
We used the bread to make wonderful sandwiches. Sourdough pullman / ginger miso mayo / shredded, baked super-firm tofu tossed with peanut butter, gochujang, lime juice, brown sugar, and veggie broth / sliced baby cucumbers marinated in white sugar, Sichuan peppercorn, Milu everything spice, and rice vinegar. Plus roasted baby broccoli.
For Five‘s chopped cheese sandwich was surprisingly good. Even these leftovers were delicious.
Congee bowls. Brown rice slow-cooked with chicken stock / mustard greens and scallion sauteed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and pepper / ground turkey sauteed with peanut butter, lime, brown sugar, Sriracha, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken broth / chili crisp.
Tuna noodle casserole. This came out so well! Brami radiatori protein pasta, canned tuna, and canned trout / mushrooms, leek, and red scallions sautéed with flour, corn starch, veggie broth, gochujang, fish sauce, and sesame oil / baked topped with a mix of crushed honey butter chips and seaweed chips. Plus roasted broccoli.
My Rex Manning day tradition is rewatching Empire Records with pizza and brownies and this was our best year yet! Brownies = Hummingbird High’s small batch brownies. These are even better than my go-to brownie recipe (I did add a bit of espresso powder and topped them with cinnamon maple pretzels).
Pizza = a variety of slices from Tori T’s. This is some of the best pizza I’ve eaten; the crust is perfect.
Blueberries aren’t my number one favorite food (a three way tie between nachos, Cherry Coke Zero, and Milk Bar’s marshmallow brownie), but they are probably the food I eat most often. Plain skyr with granola and jumbo blueberries.
We ordered fun cookies from Salamat! This was Space Yam (ube and marshmallow) but my favorites were Peach Mango Pie and Strawberry Matcha Latte.
Fish dip dinner. Canned pink salmon and lightly smoked salmon, Dukes, Kewpie, Dijon, lemon, paprika, garlic powder, onion, powder, and white pepper, food processed, then topped with chili crisp. Served along side baby broccoli sauteed with salt, pepper, gochugaru, Milu everything seasoning, butter, and lemon.
We scooped with TWO types of seaweed crackers (both excellent) – Mary’s Super Seed seaweed and black sesame and Trader Joe’s sticky rice seaweed crisps.
Trader Joe’s Thai yellow curry potato chips needed to be turned into nachos. With two types of sharp cheddar and a loose take on Thai basil chicken. Plus bok choy sauteed with ginger, white pepper, and hoisin sauce.
I enjoyed my chicken leftovers in a bowl with fried eggs and green beans that I steamed then sauteed with chili crisp, Dijon, and maple.
New-to-me bars. Beni Bite black sesame protein cookie (7.5/10, the flavor had layers and I actually loved that it wasn’t sweet but the moniker cookie made the lack of sweetness jarring) and Barebells lemon cheesecake (7/10, I prefer the non-white chocolate flavors but this was way better than key lime pie).
Trader Joe’s hot honey popcorn is excellent. I am a picky about pre-popped popcorn but this had a perfect, crispy texture!
My baking project did not come to fruition but I did enjoy graham cracker crust on several skyr bowls this week. This one had sumo mandarin.
Crab rangoon bake. A take on the sushi bake – crab meat and flake-style imitation crab meat with Kewpie, cream cheese, sweet chili sauce, scallion, garlic powder, white pepper, sugar, and soy sauce on top of brown rice with furikake, crunchy chili flakes, and rice vinegar. Plus Cruciferous Crunch veggie mix sauteed with scallions, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and Sriracha, plus edamame, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.
Take-out salad from Bango Bowl. I tried the Honey Mo – shredded kale, chopped romaine, roasted chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes, grilled peppers and onions, corn, crispy onions, and honey mustard vinaigrette. It was good (but I added cheese when I got home!)
Cottage cheese with cinnamon, vanilla bean powder, granola, and pineberries.
A savory cottage cheese bowl dinner with sauteed zucchini and green onion, a fried egg, sunflower seeds, Milu everything spice, and chili crisp.
Something I will be making again – crispy baked butter beans and shredded super-firm tofu tossed with honey, butter, chili oil, and gochugaru. Served on top of sauteed shredded brussels sprouts.
We ate the leftovers (still great!) on salads with romaine and chicory blend lettuce, cilantro salad dressing, sauteed baby broccoli with garlic, and Dubliner cheese.
A loose take on callaloo with yellow onion, red jalapeño, frozen chopped spinach and kale, ginger, urfa, coconut milk, and tons of crab. Plus homemade dumb bread.
Eating Chalk 