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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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New York’s Best Pizzas
Pizza is high on our list of comfort foods, be it spring, summer or even winter (but let’s not think about that season right now). There’s just something about the right combination of gooey cheese and crispy crust that takes us to our happy place. Of course, we have Naples to thank for this ingenious invention, but Americans have had over one hundred years to perfect our own variations, and we like to think New York’s pizza joints take...
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Mini Ice Cream Sandwich Fun
Let’s face it: Ice cream sandwiches never get old no matter what age you are. There’s something about a perfect bite of ice cream sandwiched in between two cookies that makes us all feel like a kid again. Of course, we’re older and we have a more sophisticated palate beyond good humor bars. We want something more creative, something homemade. While it may seem like a simple snack, they can get pretty difficult to make on your own. Ever...
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Q & A With Azure & La Promenade’s Alain Allegretti
How does Alain Allegretti juggle restaurants in two different states? “I gave up sleeping,” he explains. But don’t expect this handsome chef to give up his golf game or sex. Alain Allegretti has a lot on his plate right now, with the opening of his new restaurant, Azure, in Atlantic City, along with his flagship restaurant, La Promenade de Anglais, but he’s taking it all in stride with no plans to slow down any time soon. That’s a good...
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Best of New York Pickles
Did you know cucumbers, grown just for pickling, once grew all over Brooklyn? Yep. And they were sold from market stalls on Fulton, Canal and Washington Street. Americans consume over 5 million pickles a year, and New York is known for its pickles. While pickles aren’t exactly glamorous, they’re no longer relinquished to delis, sandwich shops and greenmarkets. Pickles of all sorts have come into fashion with all kinds of pickles far beyond cucumbers. There’s McClure’s killer Bloody Mary...
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New York’s High Line Eats
It’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago there was no such thing as the High Line, at least not as we know it today. Now, the Meatpacking’s historic freight rail is one of the Manhattan’s best outdoor havens for an elevated stroll over the city, or better yet, a foodie crawl. See the thing about the High Line is that it has so much going for it. With spring well underway, New Yorkers and tourists alike...
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Foolproof Quesadilla Grill Basket
Memorial Day is the official launch of grilling season. That means hot dogs, hamburgers, steak, corn, and even peaches come dessert. This summer, we plan to up our grill game, which is why we love this Quesadilla Grill Basket (pictured right). See the problem with making quesadillas at home is that it’s nearly impossible to recreate that crispy, charred exterior they produce in restaurants. Try it on a barbecue and you’re likely to lose all your ingredients to the...
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Q&A With Molyvos’s Jim Botsacos
Fifteen years is a long time for a restaurant to survive in New York City. And it’s even longer for a chef to stay in the same kitchen (nevermind boast a 17-year marriage!). But Jim Botsacos has managed to keep midtown Greek, Molyvos, relevant for over a decade. With a brand new makeover and a new menu, Molyvos is better than ever. When asked if he ever worries about being down the block from Mylos, he explains, “No – sometimes, having...
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Sexy Spring Cocktails
We’ve been known to enjoy a cocktail (or three), and what better way to celebrate the warm weather than with a fresh from the garden libation? The city’s hottest bars and restaurants around the city have swapped out their stiff winter warmers for lighter, brighter concoctions in honor of spring. With fresh ingredients, like mint, muddled strawberries and cucumbers, seasonal libations are high on our radar right now. Especially the ones at the newly minted Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg....
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Bacon-Stuffed Burger Anyone?
Shaping the perfect burger is an art that chefs work on perfecting their entire lives. First, there’s the blend of meat, then the burger to bun ratio, and of course, the toppings, which could launch a thousand debates. But we’re always looking for some new form of inspiration, some new tool to experiment with, but we didn’t see this one coming. Bacon-stuffed hamburger anyone? We’re in. This Stuffed Hamburger Press, exclusively from William Sonoma, makes it easy to...
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Martini Rim
Ever notice how your bartender swirls a little gin (or vodka) around the glass before pouring your martini be it dirty or dry? Well, now you can play the part at home. Instead of the customary rinse of liquor around the edge of your martini glass, which often leads to waste (and who wants that?), this little martini atomizer lets you spritz instead. Open the top and fill the funnel inside the stainless steel tube with gin or vodka....
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New York’s Best Oysters
The oyster is often overlooked as the quintessential New York food, but there was a time when oyster carts were as common as food trucks and hot dog stands. Times have changed, but there’s still plenty of oysters being shucked across the city, and they happen to be the perfect summer food. Still, a good oyster is like finding a good man, and you can’t eat just any old oyster. So what to look for? Well for starters, freshness. Walk into an...
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Perla’s Potato Chips All’Amatriciana
First, there was Joseph Leonard, then Jeffrey’s Grocery followed by Fedora. In just three years, Gabriel Stulman has built himself a tremendously popular restaurant empire in the West Village. But his latest venture, Perla, which debuted two months ago, just might be his finest effort to date. The chef is Michael Toscano, who first got his start at Babbo, then moved on to man the kitchen at Manzo’s, the meat-centric restaurant inside Eataly. Perla is Michael Toscano’s coming out party and he manages to make quite...
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RG’s Favorite Restaurants
Sure, we’re always chasing down the best new restaurants, but there are some restaurants that stand the test of time as our all-time favorites no matter how many years have passed. No matter how many new, and often modern, Thai spots open, we find ourselves returning again and again to Sripraphai, in Queens. While we’d rather find a favorite closer to our home in midtown Manhattan, we’ll happily travel to the outskirts of Woodside for what’s still the best damn Thai...
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Eater Grub Street Amateur Gourmet Food Section Gothamist Food & Wine Saveur Epicurious Tasting Table Serious Eats Midtown Lunch Apron Anxiety Ruhlman LAist LA Weekly Cookthink The New York Times – Dining & Wine The Stone Soup The Village Voice – Restaurants Delicious Days Rachael...
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Gizmo Girl’s Wine Aerator
Exposing wine to just the right amount of oxygen not only brings out more flavor, but also enhances an effortlessly smooth finish and aroma. What we love about the Vinturi Tower Deluxe Wine Aerator Set is its sophisticated design and ability to enhance your vino in the time it takes to pour a glass. There are no crazy contraptions, no transferring of wine from one container to another, and reduced risk of spillage (we wouldn’t want that!). This 6-piece...
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New York’s Best Spring Dishes
You know it’s spring when squash and parsnips lose their spots on the menu to asparagus, snap peas, beets, and ramps. And suddenly, it’s a whole new dining scene as restaurants reinvent themselves with the first signs of spring. We’ve spotted pickled ramps, rhubarb a briny spectrum of oysters, and even spotted our first, soft shell crabs of the season. Chefs are seizing the opportunity to do a little spring cleaning, shedding hearty comfort foods and sprucing up their...
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Editors and Contributors Sarah Zorn – Editorial Director Sarah was born and raised in NYC, and is the bonafide product of a family that started planning their next meal as soon as they finished their last. She eventually moved to a far-flung corner of Brooklyn for the chance to own a fig tree, where she now lives with her husband and (no offense to the husband or the fig tree), the love of her life — a hound mix...
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