Their approach slowed as tourists beckoned them for photo-ops to which the hat-clad duo agreed. I was new to these environs but my friend, a resident for years, turned from the table and said "oh, here come the Hat Sisters" and minutes later two towering...
Fried chicken and a donut - a perfect combination of fried at FEDERAL DONUTS, Philadelphia, PA ...
"It is a beautiful ocean today, isn't it? What would you say that is, sort of sapphire? I've never seen anything like that ocean!" The Late Edie Beale, the former mistress of Grey Gardens and cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Ah, Long Island beaches. In East Hampton...
Ah, Fifth Avenue in December: all the beautiful decorations, the shopping, the holiday cheer. Oh, and, don't forget the tourist crowds - lots and lots of them. Welcome to Christmastime in New York City. No doubts about it, with so much hustle-bustle you'll work up a...
All hamburgers are not created equal. From the meat spectrum of juicy reds to dry dull grays, patties proliferate fast food joints, greasy spoons, pedigreed dines and catering halls across America. Factor in some really amazing burgers and, by all means, now is not a good...
Any doubts on how a localvore will make do in cosmopolitan London will quickly disappear at the food extravaganza that is BOROUGH MARKET. Along with a handful of restaurants and shops nestled under the archways of this centuries old market there's an amazing array of food,...
There's lots to be said when things are well done. Make that well done in French, as in just right and, so goes the aptly named BIEN CUIT bakery-cafe that you'd expect to find in the countryside of France and not in the film set...
[caption id="attachment_4053" align="alignleft" width="214"] THE LAFAYETTE BURGER[/caption] The problem with a period restaurant - think France early 20th Century - is that it takes a lot for it to feel authentically old. With its lighting, furnishings and signage, LAFAYETTE is no exception to this restaurant design...
A bike basket of bao from BAOHAUS, NYC is absolute bun yum!!! Amazing taste and texture come together with these Taiwanese-edged street food eats. The BirdHaus Bao's got 24 hours of brining and the Waygu Haus beef is from Snake River Farms at this hole...
When thinking about small town USA, New York City is not the first place that comes to mind. However, if you go a bit beyond its main grid and squint ever so slightly, the stretch of Hudson Street running through the West Village is more...
Like the Borscht Belt of the 20th century KUTSHER'S TRIBECA is gone. You'll need to use your imagination and, perhaps a reference to a bit of Dirty Dancing at this throwback, if in essence name only, to the Catskills of yore. http://vva.org/blog/?p=3163 This Kutsher's was all about up-to-date culinary takes...
Sounds off-putting, a liquid paste of wheat flour and boiled oct0pus but, really, there's something to these Japanese "takoyaki" balls. At OTAFUKU, NYC, the glutinous mixture of the takoyaki is grilled in special spherical pans to create a wonderfully crunchy skin. Once done they are finished...
At OTTO, the restaurant at One Fifth Avenue, a 1927 Art Deco apartment house at the corner of 8th Street in Greenwich Village, you're in for some rustic Italian eats courtesy of the media-meal-man of Food Network fame, Mario Batali. He's often in residence and easy...
This year for Valentine's Day I skipped over the chocolates and passed on the flowers. Was a time these would be top items in the romance offerings but alas they seem pointless while my love remains unrequited. Nope, this year I will have to make do...
If a big rise is on your mind don't get too excited about the loaves at the PALM BEACH BAKERY & CAFE. However, if dense, dark and toothsome is what you're after in a loaf then search no further than the ruis limppu aka rye...
The hostess, dwarfed by mural-sized art and double-height ceilings, asked if I had a reservation for a table. I happily smiled and said no as I eyed my friend with the seat next to him occupied by his briefcase at the soon-to-be-packed bar at the...
So what if they look like some sort of prehistoric animal's testicles? [caption id="attachment_3656" align="aligncenter" width="369"] HOLY HAAS![/caption] Super healthy and great tasting, you're crazy not to love Haas avocados. Whether slivered out of their reptilian skin-like shells (cut the avocado in half length wise, use a...
For a time the best thing about Philadelphia was New York. Well unbuckle your seat belts for a stop in these colonial environs – in the world of the arts, design and dines the city of Brotherly Love is making a revolutionary comeback. WALKSEE There’s no shortage...
Broadway: bright lights, big box retailers and don't forget the tourists, and plenty of them. Not your ideal for a city stroll? Then skip over Broadway's crowded sidewalks in Midtown and Soho and head to NoMAD, the quadrant of blocks North of MADison Square Park. WALKSEE Herald...
I kneaded to meet Jim Lahey. The owner of Sullivan Street Bakery (oddly no longer on Sullivan Street after a split with his partner many moons ago and a move to Hell's Kitchen and a newly minted outpost in Chelsea), proprietor of the pizza-centric restaurant and cookbook author,...