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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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July 4th Eats
Technically, the fourth celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but these days, the holiday is about the food and there’s plenty of ways to eat patriotically in New York. Restaurants are getting in the spirit with everything from red, white & blue potato salad to barbecue, pies, and of course, the grand daddy of all eating competitions – Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island. Nathan’s Famous – Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest Address: 13-10...
Read MoreQ & A with Motorino's Mathieu Palombino
Mathieu Palombino isn’t your typical pizza chef, or as they say in Italy, pizzaiolo. He was born in Belgium and trained in classical French cooking, the last guy you’d expect to find manning a pizza oven. But Palombino’s pizzerias have been earning rave reviews since Motorino first opened in Brooklyn, followed a year later by the equally as popular Motorino in the East Village. He got his feet wet at Bouley and BLT Fish before traveling to Napoli &...
Read MoreGood Enough To Eat's Red, White & Blue Potato Salad
By Chef & Owner Carrie Levin Ingredients – 1 pound each (3 pounds total) Red Bliss potatoes, Idaho potatoes and blue fingerling potatoes, scrubbed well with skin on (should yield about 4 cups cooked) – 1 cup buttermilk – 1 cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise – 2 tablespoons sour cream – ½ teaspoon garlic powder – ½ teaspoon onion powder – ½ teaspoon ground white pepper – 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt – 1 bunch scallions, white parts only,...
Read MoreFive-In-One Unitool
I’ve seen loads of gadgets, but this is the first one that performs five functions at once. This might just be the perfect kitchen tool and it’s under ten dollars. It may not look like much, but the unitool saves a lot of kitchen space and money. There’s a slotted spoon on one end and a solid spoon on the other along with a blade for cutting up ingredients. You can also this gizmo as a spatula and a...
Read MoreRosa Mexicano's Organic Sangria
(Makes one small pitcher) Ingredients 2 oz cucumber-infused vodka, Rosa Mexicano uses Organic Crop Harvest Earth cucumber vodka 3 mint leaves ¾ oz simple syrup 3 oz Bonterra Viognier organic wine 4 oz fresh pineapple juice ½ cup mix of red apple and cucumber, diced PreparationMuddle the cucumber-infused vodka, mint and simple syrup together in the bottom of a small pitcher. Fill the pitcher with ice.Add the wine and pineapple juice and mix well.Stir in the apples and cucumbers and...
Read MoreQ & A with Bice's Jose Liriano
We don’t often get to meet the chefs who feed midtown’s power lunch crowd. Ever since Bice opened in 2002, it’s been packed with suits, luminaries & Italians nostalgic for a taste of home. The flagship restaurant is located in Milan, but the one in midtown was designed by Adam Tihany, whose resume also includes Per Se and Daniel. Unlike other power lunch destinations, the food at Bice is excellent. The chef is Jose Liriano who’s not from Italy,...
Read MoreNew York's Best New Sandwiches
Americans love to eat with their hands, especially in summer. Warm weather lends itself to hot dogs, ice cream cones, milkshakes and fries. No utensils required. While the lobster roll holds first place as the quintessential summer sandwich, we’ve noticed plenty of new, inspired options this season. And in a city as diverse as New York, you can expect lots of diversity. Why eat another ham & cheese when you can try The Spotted Pig’s cubano sandwich at lunch? ...
Read MoreOdd-Sized Measuring Spoons
Recipes come in all shapes & sizes. Creme brulees call for blow torches, others call for 3 1/2 lime juice or 1 3/4 teaspoons of vanilla. Most end up eyeballing it and hope for the best. Baking’s a science and approximating measurements can make or break a recipe. Spoon Sisters came out with a line of odd-sized measuring spoons for all those recipes that make you nervous. No more praying for the best, now 1 1/2 teaspoons, 1/8...
Read MoreBest Of Al Fresco Dining Around the Five Boroughs
Summer has finally arrived. When you sit inside at a desk all day, the last thing you want to do is sit inside a restaurant at dinnertime. Besides, one of the pleasures of summer in the city is dining outdoors under the stars or sunning yourself at brunch. There’s a variety of atmospheres and options; everything from Crispo’s charming garden with cobblestones and a a running fountain to quirky tenement spots. Take Max’s – an Italian haunt in Alphabet...
Read MoreRouge Tomate's Spiked Cucumber Cooler
Ingredients: Pinch Dill 2 oz Vodka 2 oz Cucumber juice 2 oz Lemonade Preparation: Add all ingredients except and mandolin slices soda in mixing glass. Shake and pour into highball with cucumbers and soda. Garnish with cucumber slice. Rouge Tomate Address: 10 East 60th St., btwn. Madison & Fifth Aves. Phone:...
Read MoreFaustina's Seared Ocean Trout With Almond Puree
By Chef-Owner Scott Conant (Serves 5) Ingredients for Almond puree: 1 lb celery root 2 cup sliced blanched almonds 1 1/2 ounces of caramelized shallots 2 sprig thyme 4 cups white chicken stock 1 pinch chili flakes ½ cup olive oil salt Method:Peel and cut the celery root into 1” cubes, toast the almonds in a 300° oven until lightly golden brown, approx 6-8 min. Combine the celery root, almonds, shallots, stock, thyme and chili flake in a...
Read MoreCupcake Corer
Have you ever wondered how they get the jelly inside a donut or the cream into a puff? Discovering the filling is half the fun. It was a delcious mystery to me until I decided to make cupcakes with a fudge center. I snooped around and found this clever gadget (pictured right,) which inserts filling into the beloved cupcake. The cupcake corer does all the work for you by carving a perfect hole in the center of the cupcake. ...
Read MoreQ & A with First Prize Pies' Allison Kave
How many people enter a pie contest and win first prize on their first try? Not many, but cooking runs in Allison Kave’s family. Her mother owns Roni Sue’s Chocolate and her brother is the executive chef at the new Brooklyn bbq joint, Fatty ‘Cue. Allison’s bourbon pecan pie took top first prize at the Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake-off. That’s just a glimpse of the delightfully imaginative pies she creates, including Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Pie and Shoo-fly...
Read MoreNew York’s Most Prized Pies
When it comes to desserts, New York boasts everything from organic ice creams to artisanal whoopie pies. But we’ve never been known for our pies until just recently. A new crop of shops & bakers have emerged from around the five burroughs with inspired, old-fashioned pies. Not only has Pies & Thighs finally resurfaced after two, long years with their trademark, banana cream pie encrusted in chocolate shortbread, but also the Elsen sisters and their strawberry balsamic vinegar pie...
Read MoreSeasonal's Wheat Peach
Ingredients: 1 ½ oz. peach nectar ½ oz. fresh lemon juice 1 oz. Zacapa rum infused with rosemary Orange bitters Angostura bitters wheat beer Preparation:Set the beer aside. Shake all of the other ingredients then combine with Weihenstephan Hefe-Weisse draft wheat beer (or any wheat beer on-hand). Garnish with an orange slice. Seasonal RestaurantAddress: 132 West 58th St., btwn 6th & 7th Aves.Phone:...
Read MoreCoffee Bean Ice Tray
It’s officially iced coffee season. Walking down the street with a cup of hot coffee on a hot day can feel like wearing a turtleneck to the beach. The only downside to iced coffee is the ice cubes melts too quickly and you end up drinking a watered-down drink. Not anymore. We tracked down these coffee bean ice trays that literally eliminate watery coffee because you fill the tray with coffee instead of water. Unlike your garden variety trays, ...
Read MoreThe Men Behind The Meatball Shop
Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow have been talking about opening a restaurant together since they were band mates at LaGuardia High School, right here in Manhattan. This past February, they turned their dream into a reality, opening The Meatball Shop on the Lower East Side. This one-of-a-kind eatery muses on meatballs of all sorts, everything from lamb to rabbit for “Easter Bunny Balls” in spring. Clearly, they’re not your average red sauce joint proprietors: Chernow graduated from the...
Read MoreElectric Griddle
Crepes are one of those great anytime foods. Sweet or savory, crepes can be served for breakfast, dinner, or dessert. They always make it look so easy in restaurants. Instead of a pan, restaurants use griddles to make perfect crepes. We found an electric griddle (pictured right) that helps home cooks make crepes that are on par with restaurant quality. It even comes with a batter spreader to evenly coat the griddle. The result are evenly cooked and...
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