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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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Our Favorite Comfort Foods 2012
Though it’s undoubtedly milder, winter is officially here, and with it comes cravings for comfort foods. Who doesn’t want to escape the cold outdoors and cozy up to a warm bowl of ramen, gooey grilled cheese or buttery biscuits.? We strongly suggest the flaky, fresh from the oven biscuits from Brooklyn Star or the shepherd’s pie empanadas at Sons of Essex. This year, there’s an impressive and hearty, new and old batch of creature comforts to get you through...
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The Best Thing I Ate This Week – Marea's Gnocchetti
How much do I love Marea? Let me count the ways… brodetto di pesce, lobster with burrata and eggplant, langoustines a la plancha, fusilli with red wine-braised octopus and bone marrow, spaghetti with crab, urchin, and breadcrumbs. I could on and on. With Marea, Michael White’s proved he’s just as good at pasta as he is at delicate crudos. I’d eat there once a week if I could afford it, but Marea’s more of a splurge or special occasion...
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DIY Quesadilla Maker
We love going out for Mexican, but aside from guacamole or ceviche, we rarely make it at home. Homemade tortillas seem daunting and 17-ingredient mole overwhelming. Recently, we’ve developed a fondness for breakfast quesadillas and we’d prefer to eat them in our PJ’s. So we went on a hunt for a kitchen tool to make it a lot easier and we found one. This El Paso Quesadilla Maker (pictured right) is almost too good to be true. It’s non-stick,...
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Our Favorite Christmas Treats
The holidays are about presents and family, but we’re most excited about the food. We don’t care if it’s Hannukah latkes, gingerbread houses, or Christmas buche de noel. For the best in holiday traditions, we’ve gathered a standout line-up of must-have treats this season. For starters, there’s old favorites, like Balthazar Bakery where they raise the bar on fruitcake or fresh-baked pannetone at Grandaisy spackled with rum-soaked raisins. We discovered mince pies at Brooklyn’s DUB Pies and even peppermint...
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Chocolate Xmas Tree Mold
Just in time for the holidays, we discovered this clever Christmas mold. What we love about it is how easy it is to make this adorable, edible tree at home. The mold makes it virtually foolproof. All you need to do is melt the chocolate, pour into the cavity of the pan and refrigerate, so it sets. Best of all, you pick the chocolate. If you’re the dark chocolate type (I am!), fill it with your favorite dark chocolate...
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Best of Christmas Day Dining Out
Christmas is just over a week away, and if the idea of whipping up a holiday feast in a New York kitchen has you feeling overwhelmed, you may want to keep reading. We’ve checked out what’s for dinner (and brunch, too) at the some of the city’s finest restaurants and compiled a list of our favorites. From braised Christmas goose at Wallse to a Chinese feast Fatty Crab-style, it’s just a reservation away. Lyon Address: 118 Greenwich Ave., btwn...
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Dream Gingerbread House Kit
We thought we were impressing our friends with Santa-shaped sugar cookies, but this Gingerbread Kit from Sur La Table takes it to a whole new level. This isn’t a gingerbread house. It’s a mansion! And it’s shockingly easy to make. Really. You don’t even need to look up a recipe. This puppy comes with a pre-packaged gingerbread mix, icing, and other decorations. All you need to buy is eggs and oil. Just add your wet ingredients to the mix,...
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New York's Best Feasts of Seven Fishes
When most people think of Christmas, they imagine sugar cookies, egg nog and baked ham. But there’s another tradition you might want to celebrate if you’re a fan of seafood dubbed the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Any tradition involving fresh fish and the Italian kitchen is worth investigating. A tradition rooted in Southern Italy, the Feast of the Seven Fishes – also known as La Vigilia – is celebrated on Christmas Eve to commemorate the wait for the...
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Dishspotting: The Best Thing I Ate This Week
I often use a meeting or an appointment as an excuse to wander in and admire the edibles at my favorite nearby haunts. A few days ago I happen to be in the Flatiron District, which, of course, meant a drive-by of City Bakery’s salad bar and upfront pastry counter. To me, ogling the oversized chocolate chip, coconut and dark chocolate cookies, and the pretzel croissants is better than window shopping at Tiffany’s. I got a shot of their...
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New York's Best Bowls of Soup
We’re well into fall, and as the days get shorter and the temperature drops, we’re starting to crave something warm and comforting. New York has bragging rights to some of the most imaginative chefs in the country, many with a standout soup, using the season’s peak ingredients, like pumpkin and kale in innovative ways. From the spicy chicken ramen at Momofuku Noodle Bar to Kin Shop’s one-of-a-kind pork meatball soup or Boulud Sud’s Moroccan-spiced pumpkin soup, there’s a bowl...
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The Food Loop
It’s kind of surprising what with all the innovative gadgets out there that we haven’t found something better to tie up a bird, whole fish, or rolled pork loin than kitchen string or toothpicks. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, we searched the internet for the better option and thankfully found a clever invention from fusion brands called “The Food Loop” (pictured right). Instead of a ratty piece of twine this holiday, try tying your turkey up with this trussing tool. ...
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New York's Finest Hot Chocolates
With the chilly winter moving in, it’s officially hot chocolate season again–and New York never disappoints. Some local restaurants and shops are taking things to a whole new level this year with everything from hot giandiuja chocolate at Otto to salted caramel hot chocolate at Scratchbread or even rum-spiked cocoa at L.A. Burdick. From your standard classic cocoa to the more exotic renditions involving spices, liqueur, and homemade marshmallows or fluff, there are some notable hot spots to check...
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Ultimate Nut Chopper
Thanksgiving means a lot of nuts. Stuffing with walnuts or hazelnuts, pecan pie, almond cookies, and the list goes on. The New York Times told us that unshelled nuts taste the best, (NYT article) but whole nuts are the next best thing. We always want our recipes to taste the absolute best, but chopping nuts can be a huge time suck: They slip all over the board and are impossible to cut uniformly unless you hold each one down. ...
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An Exciting New World of Sandwiches
These are good times for a change in your lunch routine. Besides, why eat another tuna sandwich or ham & cheese when you can choose from a world of sandwiches? In case you haven’t noticed, ethnic sandwiches are popping up all over the city. Eateries are serving up every imaginable global flavor between bread. And by bread, I mean everything from Indian roti to Mexican tortillas. Some sandwiches are traditional, while others are a representation of flavors and ingredients...
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Brunch And The City
We love brunch anytime of year, but with fall well underway, we find ourselves indulging in hearty weekend meals more and more. Thankfully, there are so many terrific brunch options these days, from Mexican huevos rancheros to Argentinian breakfast empanadas. There’s Pulino’s stellar lineup of breakfast pizzas and Café Mogodar’s poached eggs, pita and haloumi cheese. From the Upper West Side to Park Slope, we’ve honed in on the best in brunch, right down to the mimosas. Mesa CoyoacanAddress:...
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Where To Dine Out This Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s time to decide. If you’re among the scores of people opting to dine out this Thanksgiving, choosing a restaurant can be almost as overwhelming as hosting your own Thanksgiving dinner. We’ve done the work for you, scouting out a slew of noteworthy Thanksgiving menus this holiday, leaving you only one task – calling in your reservation. Back Forty in the East Village is braising turkey legs, while in Harlem, Red Rooster is...
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Dishspotting:Le Bernardin Lounge's Geoduck
In case you haven’t heard, Le Bernardin just got a new look, and more importantly, a new lounge with a lot more seating and a menu all its own. For those of us who don’t like to make reservations or wear a jacket & tie (at least not all the time), that’s very good news. Instead of a white tablecloth in the main dining, you can sit at the bar, or at one of the low, lounge tables, and...
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