Author: cia
-
165 Allen Street between Rivington and Stanton 212/253.8840 $103 each for a group of 8, with 3 bottles of wine and tip ♥ As soon as we walked up the steps to sit at our 8-person table, I thought Rayuela had promise. It was a bit too dark to read the menu without holding it…
-
Sometimes, the best part of leaving filthy New York City is coming home to it. A day after I returned, I picked up my latest farmer’s share and got back in the groove of cooking again. In the Philippines, all the food we ate was done for us whether it was from a restaurant, from…
-
568 Amsterdam Avenue between 87th and 88th Streets 212/799.7400 about $70 for two, with two beers, with tip ♥ I’ve never been big on moderation and that’s why a lot of the time, I find myself eating and drinking too much and paying way more than I can afford. At The Mermaid Inn, the Dr.…
-
1900 Broadway between 63rd and 64th Streets 212/595.3034 about $60 each for two, with drinks, with tip ♥ The first time we tried to eat at Bar Boulud, we chose to sit outside with the theater crowd. We were looking at the menu when the heavy wind hit, taking fragile wine glasses with it, shaking…
-
403 First Avenue corner of 12th Street 646/602.1300 about $80 each for four, with drinks, with tip ♥ ♥ I don’t think I’ve met a more sincere maitre d’ than the petite woman at Hearth. We didn’t have reservations when four of us stopped by. We were hoping to get seated at the kitchen pass,…
-
Serita came back from Bali a couple of weeks ago and brought home fresh–and very fragrant–vanilla beans. I was able to get my hands on a few of them. I wouldn’t have thought about corn soup with vanilla if I didn’t have them, but once I did, I only imagined a soup that was velvety…
-
Because I bought the roast pork to assemble these tamales, I’ll let you call me lazy. For our second Supper with Strangers, our featured ingredient was corn and we served mini roast pork tamales as amuse-bouches. How lucky was I to discover homemade pork stock from the Dr.’s fridge made from the leftover pig’s trotters…
-
803 Washington Avenue between Eastern Parkway and Lincoln Place, Brooklyn 718/398.3575 about $40 for three dishes, without drinks, with tip ♥ No roti today? I wanted to make sure I heard correctly. I was so excited to eat at Islands after hearing favorable reviews on places to eat around the Brooklyn Museum, but eating goat…
-
Burgers are burgers, right? It’s summer and you’ve gone to your fifth barbecue this season and yet, you really haven’t had a decent burger. There must be something you can do to make it more than just a burger. Over the weekend, the Dr. and I invited several people to upstate New York where we…
-
Walk around downtown Vancouver and you’ll come across several hotdog stands flocked by a diverse group of people. I come from a city where there is a hotdog stand on every other block and where a Japanese guy stuffs his face with Nathan’s every Fourth of July, so I’m not new to the Japanese-hotdog combination,…
-
We were escorted by the maitre d’ to the sushi bar as soon as we walked in for our 7pm reservations at Tojo’s in Vancouver, Canada. While I was trying to hoist myself up on the tall bar seat, I immediately recognized Chef Tojo because Anthony Bourdain sat and ate at the same sushi bar…
-
This season’s prettiest produce is definitely the garlic scape. I’ve received eight stalks so far from my farm share this season. If it weren’t for the garlicky smell, I don’t think its identity would have been obvious to me. Garlic scapes are the flower stalks that shoot up from the garlic bulb. They curl up…