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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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Best Northern European Eats
Right about this frigid time of year every year, it gets hard to motivate out of the house. Really, the only thing inspires me to brave the outdoors is hearty, warming foods, so this season I’ve turned to Northern Europe — experts at cold fronts and frigid winters, these cuisines really know how to get people through frigid winters. There are some very compelling dishes and new restaurants, like Vandaag or Edi & The Wolf, to go out for...
Read MoreOnion Goggles
Finding these goggles (pictured right) was fate. Just last night I was tearing up as I chopped onions for a few batches of soup. If you’re wearing eye makeup, forget it. You’ll have to wash your face and start from scratch. Unless you have a pair of onion goggles. It undoubtedly sounds a little silly to buy goggles, never mind wear them, to chop onions, but it makes the process much more pleasant and practical, especially when you’re entertaining....
Read MoreJunoon – Restaurant Reviewed
Wow, they must have sunk a fortune into this place. That’s the first thing that comes to mind when you step foot inside Junoon and find yourself standing in front of a tranquil reflecting pool. This new Indian restaurant, located on the outskirts of Madison Square Park, literally looks like a palace. The bar room alone is bigger than most restaurants, ornamented with antique teak swings, glossy marble floors and high ceilings. While the cocktails at ethnic restaurants tend...
Read MoreSuperstitious New Year's Eats
Ever wonder why Southerners eat black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year’s Day? This year, I thought it might be a good idea to find out. Maybe I’ve been tempting fate all these years. Maybe I’ll have a lucky 2011 if I eat black-eyed peas and collard greens, too. Like most century-old traditions, there seems to be more than one theory how this ritual originated. Some say that when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January...
Read MoreThe Ultimate Whisk
‘Tis the season for baking, so we’ve been on the hunt for tools that make our life a little easier. When you’re baking sugar cookies, meringues and gingerbread cake, you need a really good whisk. We thought we had one, until we got the rapid whisk (pictured right) for the holidays this year. This is literally two whisk in one. The inner whisk is a double metal whisk and the outer whisk is made of silicone. The combination of...
Read MoreWhere To Ring in The New Year in NYC
With New Year’s right around the corner, you might want to start thinking about where to celebrate. Luckily, there are so many terrific and different options. You could use the evening as an excuse to try the popular new offshoot of The Stantion Social, Beauty & Essex, or head to the The Darby where you can get a scene and great food in one. If that’s not your speed, you could go old school and ring in 2011 with...
Read MoreRestaurant Musings – Why Restaurant Calorie Counts Suck
I’m all for the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, but I wish we could reinstate it for restaurants (fast food chains excluded). Don’t get me wrong, I’m better off knowing the cold, hard truth that a Big Mac is 540 calories, a Whopper is 670 calories, and a vanilla shake is 550 calories. That’s what you expect from fast food joints with counter service, heat lamps, drive-thrus, and deep fryers. Now when I find myself...
Read MoreColicchio & Son's Caramelized Gingerbread
By Pastry Chef Stephen Collucci (Serves 12) Ingredients 3/4 cup molasses 3 eggs 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 1/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup oil 2 cups all-purpose flour 11/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup water Procedure 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Whisk molasses, egg, and sugar together in a bowl. Add oil and mix to combine. 3. Mix the dry ingredients together in...
Read MoreChristmas Tree Pan
Baking a cake that tastes good is one thing, but making it look good is another feat. We all can’t be Martha, but we can certainly try and the holiday season always get us in the spirit to give it a whirl. This year, we might just succeed with this 3-D Christmas Tree Pan (pictured right). We’re not only fans of multi-purpose gadgets, but also baked goods. With this 3-D mold, we can bake up a holiday cake and...
Read MoreNew York City's Best Dumplings
What makes food so exciting is the enormous diversity of flavors, textures and dishes from all over the world. But there is one dish that almost every culture shares and that’s dumpllings. Dumplings are a universal language we all speak and nearly every society has its own version of this stuffed invention. China has its pot stickers, Japan has its gyoza, the Ukraine its pierogi, and Italy its ravioli. And in New York, you can sample every dumpling...
Read MorePerfect Brownie Pan
I’ve never been much of a perfectionist because, well, I’m not very good at it. I consider remembering to take my brownies out of the oven before they burn a success. Even when I do achieve moist brownies, I still have to tackle the daunting task of cutting them into squares. I usually end up with different size rectangles, which are too uneven to give out for for the holidays. But this year I was determined to make my...
Read MoreWhere To Shop: Holiday Food Edition
Hosting a holiday party this year? Or better yet, a guest in need of a gift for the host? Whether you’re entertaining or being entertained, New York boasts some unique and terrific gourmet stores to shop for everything from artisanal cheeses and charcuterie from all over the world, chocolates, smoked fish, pastas, and imported Italian panettone. You could even theme your party and throw a global charcuterie and cheese tasting or an Italian feast of seven fishes this year. ...
Read MoreWhere To Eat: Holiday Shopping Edition
During the holiday season, you always end up logging too many hours shopping for friends and family and too little time for a good meal. Sure, you can grab a fast food fix as you zip around the city, or you can take a few extra moments to savor the season. We’ve compiled a list of great pit stops to refuel before you head back out into the cold and crowds. Some finds are so good that you don’t...
Read MoreNew York's Best Soups
It’s beginning to feel like winter and we’re ready to embrace this season’s comfort foods. There’s nothing as quintessentially winter as warm, soothing soup, like time-tested chicken noodle, minestrone, and miso soup. And, of course, there’s newcomers and ethnic creations, and a million different ways to make the classics unique. This winter, New York has more than enough soups to satisfy our warm, liquid cravings. Tortilleria Nixtamal in Queens is serving bowls of hangover medicine called pozole, Ippudo has...
Read MoreQ & A with Locanda Verde's Josh Nadel
Locanda Verde is a lovable restaurant for many reasons, like lamb meatball sliders, fire-roasted garlic chicken, outstanding desserts and a terrific and extremely affordable wine list. While most people associate Locanda Verde with chef Andrew Carmellini, Beverage Director Josh Nadel also has a lot to do with the restaurant’s success. Though he may not look it, Nadel’s practically a veteran in the New York restaurant scene. He earned praise as a sommelier at both Cru and Veritas before joining...
Read MoreLast Minute Thanksgiving Reservations
Thanksgiving was never supposed to be a stressful holiday. So if it’s starting to feel overwhelming, you might want to reconsider cooking and eat out. You could even seize the occasion to dine somewhere you’ve been dying to try and let someone else slave over the stove. Here are some of our last-minute recommendations for Thanksgiving reservations. Cornelia Street Café Address: 29 Cornelia St Phone: (212.989.9319) Website: www.corneliastreetcafe.com The charming, homey setting at this West Village fixture is great...
Read MoreNew York's Best New Wine Bars
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a grape plebian or a master sommelier, there’s nothing like a great glass of wine. Wine bars understand exactly that. Whether you’re in the mood for a fruity white, a big red or a celebratory champagne toast, they’ll point you to the right selection. Lucky for us, the city is flush with wine bars serving unusual or interesting bottles by the glass, and new ones opening every day. Which means you don’t have to...
Read MoreCake Server
Baking a cake is the easy part. The hard part is slicing and serving it. Unless you’re some sort of domestic goddess, this can be a daunting task. I don’t know about you, but when I cut a cake, it’s a messy sight. Just in time for Thanksgiving, I found this ingenious cake server. Not only does it cut the perfect slice every single time, but it also helps you serve it. Just press straight down to slice, then...
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