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Air’s Champagne Parlor is All About the Bubbly
Beer, wine and even cider bars abound in NYC, but Air’s Champagne Parlor is one of the few area drinkeries devoted to bubbly. To be fair, the Riddling Widow briefly preceded it, but owner Ariel Arce was actually beverage director during its tenure, as well as Birds & Bubbles before that, and Chicago’s Pops for Champagne (not to mention Grant Achatz’s exclusive, original The Office) before that. Meaning her reputation as queen of Cuvèe absolutely proceeds her.
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Where to Celebrate Oktoberfest 2017
If you’re already mourning the loss of summer, Oktoberfest is a reliable way to get you over the hump. Essentially spanning the duration of fall (kicking off on September 16th this year & extending all the way to October 31st, allowing revelers to seamlessly transition to Halloween), the 16 to 18-day festival is a giddy saturnalia of German culture…
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Spotlight on the Finalists for the 2017 Vendy Awards
As a fun challenge to the James Beard Awards, the Vendy ceremony — now in its 13th year — is dedicated to honoring the very best in street food. So here’s who’s in the running during the September 16th event at Governors Island; from an artisanal twinkie baker to an upstart french toast sandwich maker, to a Chinese meat skewer purveyor, whose been tapped for the Vendy Cup…
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Obsessed With All Things Pumpkin
We’re pumpkin freaks. And this time of year, we can’t get enough sweet or savory renditions of this beloved fall fruit. (That’s right, pumpkin’s a fruit.) Did you know pumpkins were actually used to make the crust not the filling of pies back in the colonial times? We didn’t either, but fast forward to present. We’re obsessed with the city’s selection of Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Ravioli, Pumpkin Soup, Pie, Whoopie Pies, Ice Cream, and more. We’ve rounded up a...
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Cake Pop Maker
Dessert crazes are a never ending cycle in this city. From cupcakes to macarons, it seems as if New Yorkers love anything that’s sweet and small. Cake pops are one of the many tiny favorites and understandably so.
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Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto
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.
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Destination Dining: The New Plaza Food Hall
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...
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Pies We’re Falling For This Fall
There’s a lot to love about fall, but none quite compare to Pie. Besides, everything you love about the season – pumpkins, apples, butternut squash, and maple syrup — come in pie form. Have you noticed how exciting pies are lately? I know, it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but there’s a whole, new world of innovative flavors, fillings, and crusts.
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All Things Brulee
The classic French dessert is a mainstay on menus worldwide, but as creative New York chefs have shown, the blowtorched dual texture effect is not exclusive to Crème Brulée.
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Seasonal Eats – Basil
There are few herbs as universally loved as Basil. While we often associate the fragrant herb with Italy — Pesto or Tomato & Mozzarella come quickly to mind– it actually comes from Asia. Thousands of years old, Basil’s considered sacred in the Hindu and Greek Orthodox religion. It’s often used to cure arthritis and asthma. While you might think of basil as a summer herb, early fall is prime season for basil on the East Coast.
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Char. No. 4’s Half-Hog Wednesdays
When is a bar not just a bar? Char No. 4 makes a compelling case. This whiskey bar and restaurant won us over a few years ago with terrific Southern comfort cooking and a collection of nearly 200 whiskeys. (You can read our 2008 review here!) The chef, Matt Greco, got his feet wet at Cafe Gray and A Voce before settling into this Carroll Gardens kitchen to share his Southern food roots.
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Q & A with Il Buco Alimentari’s Chef Justin Smillie
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.
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Digging on Duck Right Now
Culinary legend Jaques Pépin once said, “A duck exemplifies how ingredients can be used to their fullest.” And it seems like every cuisine, from French to Chinese and Thai, has a signature duck dish. Case in point: Duck A L’Orange or Peking Duck. Chefs around the world understand the versatility of this delicious bird, one that takes on many different tastes and textures depending on how you cook it and what ingredients you choose to cook it with.
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What I’m Loving: Governor
Maybe I’m getting old, but I just don’t get as excited about restaurant openings as I used to. Don’t get me wrong: I love discovering a great, new restaurant. I just don’t like to chase them down like I used to, trying to be one of the first to snag a table. Especially in the summertime when there’s so much great produce everywhere and you can’t help but become an accidental chef yourself. That’s why I missed all the...
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City Harvest’s Bid Against Hunger
City Harvest’s 18th Annual BID Against Hunger will be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York on Tuesday, October 16, at 7:30 P.M. The event, which features Eric Ripert, Zakary Pelaccio, Michael Anthony, Marcus Samuelsson, Alex Stupak, and about 65 other chefs, will be held as a benefit to help City Harvest’s efforts to feed New York’s hungry.
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Falling For Eggplant
If you think eggplant can only be found in the summer, well, think again. Eggplant’s high season runs through fall, which means these next few weeks might be your last chance to sample this nightshade vegetable grown locally. We like to think we know a lot… but we had no idea that eggplant isn’t a vegetable.
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Mini Piecrust Cutters
The only thing that gets us through the loss of summer is the anticipation of fall foods, like sweet potatoes, apple cider, chili, and squash. And especially pies. There’s just something about Pumpkin or Apple Pie that cushions the blow of colder weather.
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Where To Break The Fast This Yom Kippur
For those of us who love food, Yom Kippur is a challenging holiday to say the least. If you’re not Jewish, just imagine not eating or drinking anything at all for an entire day. After fasting for 24 hours for this Jewish Day of Atonement, you might find yourself craving a humongous dinner. It’’s a good idea to have a game plan once the sun sets on Wednesday night, so you don’t pass out from hunger. New York has...
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Doughboy’s Killer PB & J Pound Cake
You know those people who say, “I don’t have a sweet tooth,” or “I only crave salty foods”? I don’t trust them. How is that humanly possible? I can’t imagine having the kind of willpower it takes to stare down a LeVain Bakery cookie and walk away. What kind of sad existence is that anyway?
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New York’s Top Tartares
You could argue that the best steak is one that’s not cooked at all. We really owe France a debt of gratitude for delicate, spreadable raw steak. Afterall, a good steak tartare can be a spiritual dining experience. These days, chefs around the city are putting their spin on the dish, using everything from steak to tuna, Sriracha to Asian pear purees. Here’s a round up of where to go to find New York’s best tartares…
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Falling in Love With Carrots
This time of year, when the last summer vegetables are just hanging on (like peaches!), carrots are thriving. When people think of carrots, they usually think orange, but there’s all sorts of colors, like white, red, or purple. Come fall, baby carrots with names like Thumbelina and Little Finger, and Nantes carrots, dubbed “Nelson.” While red and orange carrots taste the same, purple and white carrots are far sweeter, and great to eat raw. As a general rule,...
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