Growing up I'd turn away from the hefty strawberry cheesecake and other ginormous desserts crowding the rotating display cases you'd find at the ubiquitous Greek diners on Long Island. To me there was just something not right about those cakes, something unappetizing in their appearance....
Looking in from 7th Avenue with just the slightest of squinting and it's a little bit of Spain meets Rome in old world rustic tapas bar meets salumeria style. When it comes to the food however, it's eyes wide open for deliciously crafted plates....
Hand-Rolled and Wood-Fired -- not sushi and not pizza. Bagels. Montreal meets New York. Bagels that look back to baking as an artisanal craft, achieving perfection in crispness, density and flavor. At Black Seed the art of bread is not dead -- these may be...
Yes, you can have an amazing plate of pasta and, if it's season a bright and angular salad of escarole, fava beans, pecorino, mint and basil, and leave Via Carota completely sated. But if you did you'd be missing out on what could be the...
The Double Shack Lot's of nostalgia to these burgers of 100% all-natural Angus beef griddle friend patties are topped with cheese, tomato and lettuce splashed with ShackSauce (who knows, but think of some sort of seasoned mayo, ketchup and mustard blend) on a Martin's Potato Roll...
A kouign-amann, not to be confused with former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, is perhaps the most buttery of bakes ever concocted. While Mr. Annan arrives by way of Ghana, this round breaded wonder traces its origin to the French Bretagne coast. No one's exactly...
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...
Well, so much for New Years resolutions. Fried chicken and a donut - how could I resist? At FEDERAL DONUTS it's the perfect combination of fried. There's a big nostalgia play at the sliver shop of a counter and handful of seats that beckoned me from a nondescript side street,...
"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...
THE LAFAYETTE BURGER 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 conundrum. This is...
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...