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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 of NYC — Lamb Crawl
Every meat has its moment and right now, it’s all about lamb. April Bloomfield’s just as famous for her lamb burger at The Breslin as she is her beef burger at The Spotted Pig. Walk into almost any New York restaurant these days and you’re bound to find a lamb dish on the menu. Newcomers like Balaboosta in Soho offer tastings of “lamb three ways” or BBQ lamb shoulder & ribs (pictured right) at Fatty Cue in...
Read MoreSavoy's Spring Blush
By Mixologist Michael Cecconi For the rhubarb stock: 1 lb. rhubarb, cleaned and sliced into 1-inch pieces ½ lb. peeled, thinly sliced ginger Place ginger and rhubarb in a pot then cover an inch over with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer until roughly one-quarter of the liquid is gone (around 20 minutes. Let cool, then strain out solids using a fine metal strainer. Reserve extra stock in fridge or freezer. For the drink (serves 1):...
Read MoreReclaimed Cheese Board
Have you ever been to a house party and wanted to know what kind of cheese was on the cheese plate? It’s nice to know exactly what you’re eating and where it’s from. This cheese board (pictured right) is made of reclaimed chalkboards from a real high school in Illinois. That means you can label all your cheeses right on the board. When you’re done, just wash off the chalk and start all over again. You can throw your...
Read MoreQ & A With Los Feliz's Julieta Ballesteros
It’s not often you see foie gras tacos on a menu. Julieta Ballesteros has quite an imagination, prone to taking liberties with Mexican cuisine. Her cooking style is unique to say the least — a mix of French and her native cuisine. That’s what happens when a native of Mexico moves to New York to study at the French Culinary Institute. After graduating, Julieta cooked at Mexicana Mama and also created the opening menu for Crema. She’s even worked...
Read MoreBest Soft Serve In The City
You never get too old for soft serve. There’s something about the sight of the ice cream truck and the snowy white swirls of vanilla soft serve on a sugar cone. Nowadays, there’s a lot more options that just Mister Softee. Soft serve’s gotten an artisanal makeover and places like Chickalicious are upping the ante with real, vanilla bean-specked version. This spring, there’s everything from from ginger and passion fruit soft serve at Bar Breton to blueberry muffin...
Read MoreRouge Tomate's Spring Pea Soup
By Executive Chef Jeremy Bearman Ingredients: 1 cup Spring Onion diced 2 cloves Garlic Degermed 2 Tbsp Olive Oil 1 cup Idaho Potato Diced 3 cups Milk 1 cup of water Salt 1 cup Shelled English Peas (preferably fresh but can work with frozen) 1 cup Sugar Snap Peas 8 oz Pea Tendrils 10 leaves of mint Pepper ½ cup 0 percent Greek yogurt ½ lb Peekytoe Crab 2 Tsp Almond Oil 1 Tbsp Chopped chives 1 Tsp Lemon...
Read MorePasta & Parmesan Tool
Pasta is the kind of dish you can throw together last minute and still end up with something wonderful for dinner. And if you keep dried pasta and parmesan on hand, you don’t even have to go shopping before dinner. Now, all you need is the right tools. Or maybe just one. This pasta & Parmesan tool (pictured right) is 3 tools in one, making cooking pasta even easier. For starters, it measures out pasta into equal portion, and...
Read MoreQ & A with Patroon's Bill Peet
Bill Peet has done just about everything from washing dishes to cooking at Cafe des Artistes, and even Lutece before the legendary French eatery closed years ago. But a lot has changed on the dining landscape since the chef first began cooking in 1972. During his thirty-seven-year career, Peet opened his own restaurant in Westfield, New Jersey that managed to draw critical attention and monthly visits from my family growing up. He’s also served as the corporate chef for...
Read MoreNot Your Average Delivery
One of the great advantages of living in New York is the fact that you can get anything delivered to your doorstep. Whatever cuisine you’re craving can be on the table within the hour. But dinner’s just the half of it. What New Yorkers is the delivery possibilities are endless. There’s local ice cream, farm produce, milk, and even seltzer. Milkmade Homemade Ice Cream milkmadeicecream.com The thing about ice cream cravings is you never know when one will...
Read MoreAldea's Hemingway Heat Cocktail
(Serves 1) Ingredients: 2 ½ oz Clement Premiere Canne Rhum ½ oz Lime Juice ½ oz Simple Syrup ½ oz Luxardo Maraschino 2 wedges grapefruit 1 slice jalapeño 1 lime wheel Procedure: 1) Muddle grapefruit and jalapeno. Add rhum, lime juice, simple syrup and maraschino and shake vigorously. Strain into ice-filled rocks glass, garnish with lime wheel. Address: 31 W 17th Street, btwn. 5th & 6th Aves. Phone: (212)...
Read MoreLong Handle Muddle
Muddling is a marvelous way to punch up any cocktail, not to mention take advantage of spring citrus, like blood oranges. But really you can muddle anything from basil to cilantro, injecting real flavor instead of those infused liquors you buy in stores. You don’t have to go out to have a muddled cocktail. All you need is your favorite spirit and some fresh fruit of herbs to put your own spin on a mojito or Old-Fashioned. This muddler...
Read MoreQ & A with The Chocolate Bar's Alison Nelson
Let’s just say Alison Nelson was born to make chocolate. She grew up addicted to Hershey’s dark chocolate bars and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, and she turned her obsession into an international business. Her dream was to make familiar & nostalgic chocolates with high quality ingredients, elevating the everyday chocolate bar to something refined. What started as a small shop in the West Village has expanded to New Jersey and even Dubai. Chocolate Bar is best known for...
Read MoreNew Orleans Grub on The Rise
While we didn’t make it down to New Orleans’ Jazz Fest this year, we certainly ate like we did this weekend right here in New York. NoHo (short for New Orleans) grub has suddenly come into fashion this spring, and it’s about time crawfish, gumbo and Po’ Boys get their due. The Redhead, located in the East Village, and its flawless fried chicken first caught the attention of foodies last spring. Since then, we’ve eaten oyster po boys...
Read MoreThe Ice Orb
Ah, the good old days of ice trays that take up too much space in the freezer. I usually just call the corner deli for a bag of ice when I really need it. That is until I found this futuristic-looking gadget (pictured right.) It’s called the ice orb and unlike most trays, this one’s vertical so it leaves room for ice cream and life’s other frozen necessities. That’s not the best part. This is: The orb uses a...
Read MoreQ & A with Jake the Butcher
Who would’ve thought “Sam the Butcher” would become the sex symbol for the 21st century? Chefs, bartenders, chocolatiers, and butchers are all experiencing a moment in the spotlight. Jake Dickson takes the concept of the local butcher to a new level. He’s determined to provide New Yorkers with top quality, artisanal meats from local farms. He launched Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in 2008, and a year later, opened his first storefront in Chelsea Market with housemade charcuterie, like lamb sausages...
Read MoreKenmare’s Killer Fries
Joey Campanaro isn’t very trendy. He’s a low key, Italian guy who likes to cook things like roast chicken and ricotta cavatelli. But he took New York by storm with a 28-seat eatery named The Little Owl and his gravy meatball sliders. Four years later, it’s just as hard to get a prime-time reservation at this charmed, Greenwich Village spot. Now, you can also try Campanaro’s sliders at Kenmare, his newest, Nolita venture and collaboration with nightlife impresario, Paul...
Read MoreGuacamole Set
Warm weather always makes me crave a margarita with a big bowl of homemade guacamole & chips. Sure, you can make cut up a few avocados with a knife and mash them with a fork, but you’re bound to have clumps. I bought this guacamole set for a friend with a guacamole fetish last year and ended up buying one for myself.Now, it takes no time at all. Just press the avocado slicer down to press into pieces, then...
Read MoreQ & A with Peter Hoffman
Fresh and local are unwritten laws in the dining world nowadays. That wasn’t the case in 1990 when Peter Hoffman opened Savoy in Soho. That was the era of Continental cuisine. Hoffman was one of the original Greenmarket chefs, who shopped at the market for seasonal produce and changed his menu accordingly. “I first started buying from local farmers when I was at Huberts on 22nd St in the early ‘80’s, but it took a few years for the...
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