Restaurants in Manhattan

Dovetail’s Pumpkin Soup

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of, Fall Foods

People have been talking about Dovetail’s Pumpkin Soup for years.  While it’s not technically new, it just keeps getting better with age.   Owner and chef John Fraser made a splash when he first opened his ambitious seasonal American restaurant on the Upper West Side, earning praise and a Michelin star in the process.  This fall, he’s upped the ante on one of his now signature dishes.  This season’s version is a luscious, yet light broth (made with pumpkin juice and whole pumpkin puree), scattered with Pomegranate Seeds, Granny Smith Apple Pearls, and Pumpernickel Croutons for crunch.  The final touch is the unique addition of homemade Marshmallows, spiced with Vadouvan, a French curry blend typically made with onions, shallots, garlic and cardamom.   And if you’re still craving pumpkin come dessert, order a scoop of Dovetail’s Pumpkin Ice...

Park Avenue Autumn’s Pumpkin & Molasses Cake

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of, Fall Foods

This midtown spot not only include a change in the menu but the entire décor and space as well. Park Avenue Autumn is here until late November, with a menu that highlights the season’s best, including Roast Chicken with “Pumpkin Pie”.  Except this year the talented Richard Leach has added a new and exceptional sweet to his dessert menu, a Warm Pumpkin & Molasses Cake.  A stunning arrangement of four components that include a warm and deliciously dense Pumpkin Cake, sweetened with molasses, alongside a a Sour Cream Panna Cotta Bar, and Chilled Molasses...

Spiga

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s Pumpkin Eggnog Pudding

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Fall Foods

We’ve been fans of this teeny Lower East Side bakery and its pies, cakes and cupcakes for years.  We love the story of these two ladies, Peg and Deb, who met while performing in The Music Man, living parallel lives of auditioning and working together at Magnolia Bakery.  They launched this itty bitty bakery over nine years ago and we think it gets better every year.  Come October, they roll out their moist and surprisingly light Pumpkin Cake. But the best card they’re holding is the Pumpkin Eggnog Pudding Cake, a mildly spiced trifle layered with moist Pumpkin Cake and a thick and luscious Eggnog Pudding....

Fat Witch

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in First Bite, Reviews

What’s with the sudden restaurant migration to the Upper East Side? First, the guys from The Lion made the trek uptown to open The Crown last year, then came Il Mulino’s recent fall, “red sauce” debut and now Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto. Except Salumeria Rosi didn’t exactly move uptown. Instead, partner and chef Cesare Casella made his way across Central Park from the West Side to open a second Salumeria Rosi outpost, a partnership with Parmacotto meat purveyors.

Destination Dining: The New Plaza Food Hall

Cuisine: | Featured in Destination Dining

I’m not sure what rock I’ve been living under, but I missed the memo about the new additions to the Plaza Food Hall.  I knew that Todd English had taken over and installed a swanky food court of his own where you could sit anywhere and order from the sushi counter, raw bar, pasta station, pizza oven and rotisserie. Considering its location and proximity to Central Park, it was bound to be touristy and crowded, but it’s a good solution for diners who can’t decide what to eat for dinner because you can get a little of everything. But the latest additions are a game changer.  Living in midtown has always had its drawbacks, which mostly come in the form of overpriced restaurants. It’s not like living in the West Village where a funky, new restaurant with an ambitious...

First Prize Pies’ Apple Cider Cream Pie

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Dessert

Ever since Allison Kave won the 1st Annual Brooklyn Pie-Off back in 2009, her pies have been getting tons of attention from New Yorkers. It’s not just the quality of the pies that makes us love this place, but the innovative offerings on their menu.  Kave dreams up everything from Greek Honey pie, with a consistency somewhere between custard and cheesecake, to Mexican Chocolate Cream pie dusted with a kick of cayenne and chile, and Apple Brandy.   Even her apple pies are different, like Apple Brandy or Apple Cheddar.  Still, there’s something about her Sweet Potato Pie that soothes our comfort food cravings like nothing else.  It’s the combination of luscious sweet potato, maple syrup, molasses and rum.    Though they don’t have a shop yet, you can pick up orders from Roni-Sue’s Chocolates on the Lower East...

Momofuku Milk Bar’s Crack Pie

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Dessert

Momofuku Milk Bar Pastry Chef Christina Tosi’s Crack Pie is the ultimate holy grail of pies. Many have tried to replicate this pie (especially now that Milk Bar has a cookbook out) to no avail. Why is it called the Crack Pie? Well, it’s so good that it’s the only fitting description is that it’s “as good as crack.”

Hill Country Chicken’s Maker’s Mark Bourbon Pecan Pie

Cuisine: Barbecue | Featured in Best Of, Dessert

Made with fresh pecans, brown sugar and Maker’s Mark whiskey, this pie adds something sweet (with a boozy kick) to enjoy with their amazing fried chicken and biscuits.

Westville’s Pumpkin Pie A la Mode

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of, Dessert

Since Apple Pie is the pie to which all others are compared, it’s difficult to say which version is the absolute best. We’re always looking for that one slice of apple pie where the apples aren’t too limp or too crisp. We’ve found what may be the perfect, simple apple pie at Westville.

Bubby’s Sour Cherry Pie

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of, Dessert

Stuffed to the brim with four pounds of sour Michigan cherries and flavored with a hint of almond and lemon, just thinking about a slice of this could bring a smile to anyone’s face, but particularly to those cherry pie connoisseurs.

The Doughnut Plant

Cuisine: Bakery | Featured in Best Of

As if Crème Brulée and doughnuts were not extravagant enough on their own, The Doughnut Plant has fused the two in one of their most popular creations: the Crème Brulée Doughnut.

Chikalicious Dessert Club

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Jean Georges

Cuisine: | Featured in Uncategorized

Café Cluny

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of

There is nothing elaborate about a half a grapefruit for breakfast, but the one at  Cafe Cluny comes with a marvelously crunchy and caramelized seal, taking your average breakfast to new places.  We think that’s a perfect way to jump start your morning.  The bruleed raw sugar coating on top mingles with the grapefruit’s tart juices for an agreeable blend of sweet and tart.  Order a cappuccino and a freshly baked croissant to accompany it and linger ’til...

Perbacco

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Best Of

At Perbacco, Chef Simone Bonelli blends her love of traditional Italian cuisine and modern innovation. For an appetizer, try the Crème Brulée di Parmigiano Reggio, a delightful dish where 18-month aged Parmesean cheese is used as the base.

Norma’s at The Parker Meridien

Cuisine: American | Featured in Best Of

Nutritionists have long advocated a low-fat, protein-rich breakfast, but a morning diet of Greek yogurt and steel-cut oats can get old fast. Thankfully, the chefs at The Parker Meridien’s Norma’s have crafted a fresh take on the latter, incorporating the brulée technique into their oatmeal.

Q & A with Il Buco Alimentari’s Chef Justin Smillie

Cuisine: Italian | Featured in Chef Q&A

It’s been quite a year for chef Justin Smillie, whose cooking at Il Buco Alimentari E Vineria has garnered plenty of attention and packed tables night after night. This NoHo market-cum-restaurant-cum-wine-bar manages to be everything to everyone. From the crusty, Italian breads baked in house, to the salumi dried and aged in the basement, and pastas, made impeccably fresh daily.

Wong

Cuisine: Asian Fusion | Featured in Best Of

Ever have duck for dessert? Yeah, we hadn’t either until we discovered Wong and their truly original Roasted Duck Ice Cream. It may seem like an odd combination at first – savory duck meat and creamy ice cream – but it’s actually an ingenious creation meant to evoke the idea of Peking Duck.